Do You Remember?
by LovinLife4ever
Summary: Sequel to Atheist of Love. Troy, Sharpay and the rest of the guys are leaving Albuquerque for college, but Sharpay's past seems to be following her there, and it's messing up things for everyone in the process. TROYPAY ON HAITUS
1. Getting it Together

**Okay… Its so weird having to start all over again but I'll attempt it.**

I walked outside of my house, it was like the third day of summer vacation and since it was the end of senior year, guess what I was hoping to get in the mail? Yeah, one word: college, higher education, my one and only chance to shed my image as a former alcoholic's sister. As you can guess last year was pretty over dramatic. Ryan had a pretty hard time convincing people that he was fully recovered, even though he totally was. Once everyone saw how okay Ryan was they sort of let the whole thing go. But as you've probably figured out by now, if there is anything that an East High student can do its hold on to the same idea for a long, long time. I hated the funny looks people gave me, but hey, imagine how it was to be Ryan in that instance. The parole people kept a close watch on Ryan for the next few months and probably still were, but at least he was almost put in juvenile hall. The week he turned eighteen he moved out of dad's house and into moms. Since she was out servicing the community and hopping in and out of jail, it wasn't that hard to convince her to let Ryan stay.

Okay, so back to the mail box. I found a letter in the box from the Hathaway Academy of the Performing Arts (A/N Non existent). I quickly opened it and read. _Dear Ms. Evans, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted…_that first sentence was all I needed. "Troy! I made it! I made it into Hollywood!" I screamed, running across the lawn to my boyfriend Troy's house, I jumped into his arms and screamed ecstatically.

"That's great, congratulations!" He said into my shoulder.

"I can't believe it!" I said, squeezing my eyes shut, trying to make the moment last.

"Whoa! Did we just walk in on a little PDA fest?" Chad said, I knew it was him, I didn't even have to turn around.

"I made it into college with out having to say my dad's name." I said, referring to the Danforth family shipping company, also big donors to colleges… specifically ones that Chad was interested in.

Chad smirked. "At least it gets me what I want. Where did you get accepted to? Beauty School"

I smiled, this was just our thing, we didn't mean anything by it. "No, but while you were there checking your few options did you get that hair cut?" I asked, referring to the fro.

"No, this thing is all natural, how about your hair Sharpay? Are they plug-ins or extensions?" He asked.

"How do you know these terms so well?" I asked him.

He blushed. "Touché" He said.

I mentally applauded myself and looked over at Chad. Taylor, Kelsi, Gabriella and Ryan were with him. "I made it to Hathaway." I said.

"Huh? Isn't Hathaway that girl from the Devil Wears Prada?" Ryan asked. It was one of the many movies he had seen with his semi-girlfriend Gabriella who was still kind of weird when it came to me and Troy. She was on the rebound but Ryan was sure happy to be her rebound guy.

"No you idiot, The Hathaway Academy of Performing arts is named after Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare's wife." I explained.

"How do you know this?" Ryan asked, in his signature Ryan confused voice.

"We had a test on the life of William Shakespeare a week ago." I said bluntly.

"Oh… I knew that." Ryan said.

"Sure you did." I said sarcastically. "So did anyone besides me get accepted anywhere?"

"I did." Kelsi chimed. "Actually to the same place, I loved the whole vibe they have going at Hathaway." She said.

"I love that it's like, two miles away from the heaven that is Hollywood." I said.

"That's great, Gabriella and I are applying to an Ivy league near by." Taylor said, we weren't quite friends, but we could be civil, last year wasn't all good memories between us.

"Cool, maybe we'll all stay together." Gabriella said.

"It's sort of unlikely, but it's a major possibility." I said. Gabriella gave me a weird look, ever since she found out that Troy and I were going out immediately after they broke up she'd started asking me if he said anything about her, or if we talked about anything interesting. It was weird. It only got weirder when she found out that we loved each other, I know it sounds weird because we were only dating for a few weeks at the time but we really did -and still do- love each other. Gabriella found that really horrifying, she kept on asking me if I ever had second thoughts about Troy, or if I felt like he was going to leave me. I said no but she kept it up.

"Well however far apart we maybe, it'll all work out in the end." Chad said, obviously for Taylor's sake, if things didn't go good she would sort of start hyperventilating and try to force everything in perfect order. It never really worked out for anyone though.

"Yeah, but I hope we're close together." She admitted.

Gabriella smiled. "Okay, how about we all get together and watch a movie? I think the Notebook is coming on tonight."

"Oh, please no." Chad said, he wasn't really into the whole romantic movie thing either, and ever since she broke up with Troy he felt like he didn't have to be so stiff around her, he also learned that she wasn't as fragile as he thought she was.

"I agree with Mr. Beauty School." I said.

Chad gave me a smirk and turned to Gabriella. "Since there are no games on tonight-"

"Thank God." Taylor cut in.

Chad gave Taylor a look. "I propose, we watch a horror movie."

"I second that!" I said, loving horror movies myself.

Gabriella went pale "But… I can't, they're too… too…"

"Horrific?" I suggested.

"Yeah… horror movies are too horrific." She said.

Everyone gave her a look, guess she hadn't picked up on the whole sarcasm thing yet… it was still kind of creepy though. "So that's two votes for horror, one against what about the rest of you?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"I'm in for horror." Kelsi said.

"I'm out." Taylor said, as if scorning her boyfriend for bringing it up.

"I'm in." Troy said.

"Troy! I thought you liked my movies." Gabriella complained.

Troy blushed. "Yeah… I kind of… embellished my feelings towards movies of that-"

"He doesn't like chick flicks." Chad spat out. Troy gave him a thankful look while Gabriella didn't quite take it as gracefully.

"Troy… I can't believe you." Gabriella said, seeming profoundly hurt. "I've got to go." She said and walked away.

Every stared at Troy who shrugged and watched Gabriella leave. "So… horror wins, let's go." He said.

"Hey wait! Doesn't my vote count for anything?" Ryan asked.

"No, not really." I joked.

"Fine, I was going to vote horror anyways." He said.

I shrugged and went inside. We decided on snakes on a plane. Gabriella showed up about ten minutes into the movie and apologized to Troy. She was apparently she was sorry for the way she acted and it was probably just nervousness with college replies coming in and what not. She wouldn't answer when I asked her why though. Strange… very strange. By the end of the movie Gabriella's eyes were wide opened not moving away from the screen.

"But why? Why would he do that? I mean that is so evil… just to put a bunch of snakes on a plane." She said.

"Because, it's supposed to be scary, it wouldn't be scary if the guy just apologized and just took the punishment." I explained.

"But what about that couple? And that mom? And the dog? Why did they all have to die?" She asked.

"Gabriella, it's just a movie." Chad said.

Gabriella couldn't even turn her head. "But… It was just so… so…"

"Horrific?" This time Troy suggested.

Gabriella looked up at him, she was sitting on the floor and he was standing like the rest of us. "That's not funny." She said angrily and stormed out.

"Is she okay?" I asked.

Troy gave me a look, like he was worried, and guilty, and confused at the same time. "Yeah… she'll be fine." He said.

It didn't bother me that Gabriella was having a fit, but it bugged me that Troy knew something about it (and I know he did) and he was hiding it from me. I shrugged it off, she was probably just stressed or something. I smiled softly. "Maybe I should go talk to her, girl to girl you know?" I asked.

"No! I mean… I dated her for like a year, and I know that what she needs now is just some time on her own." He said, giving his best 'I didn't just make this up on moments notice' look. It sort of stunk.

I turned around and crossed my arms, this was all too weird.

**Okay, this may have been sort of weird but trust me, it will soon be explained. Next chapter will take place after summer though, so just be warned.**

**Okay, on Monday I went to a Fall Out Boy concert with two of my friends… it rocked! Even though they were an hour behind. I got to see some other stuff too, like Cobra Starship, Paul Wall, and Plus 44 (my friend got hit in the head with Travis Barker's drum stick but she didn't catch it… that sucks) it was pretty cool. I witnessed a cramped mosh pit, two couples making out, eight mosh fights and a bunch of drunk high school kids… oh and there was music too. **

**Okay so here… chapter one… yeah. **


	2. What's up?

We were all going crazy as we handed our tickets to the flight attendant. A first class one way to Hollywood California. It was the same for all of us. The flight attendant nodded as if to say good luck. We gave her back a thank you smile and proceeded to our seats. First class was courtesy of my dad, I really didn't like accepting stuff from him but now I had no obligations to give him anything back. He was just happy I made it to art school on scholarship. Kelsi, Troy, Ryan, Chad and I were all going to the same college, I know it seems weird but we all got accepted to a great school so we went for it. Taylor and Gabriella went to a near by Ivy League type thing… so near by in fact that they got to share dorms with us, so pretty much we never split up. It was pretty cool.

I took a seat on the plane next to Troy and close to Gabriella. Gabriella at the moment was having a panic attack. It didn't quite help that Chad was making hissing noises. "Don't tell me that you're still freaked out by that whole snakes on a plane thing." I said.

"Don't say that name!" Gabriella said, she was actually sniffing the chair for pheromones.

"That movie was fictional, it was most likely written by some star wars nerd who lives in his mom's basement." I said.

"But it's actually possible for that to happen! What if someone actually arranged to put snakes on the plane! Gabriella said, lifting her feet to make sure that there was no cobra trying to constrict her feet while she was talking to us.

"Oh please, Gabriella, if there were snakes on this plane someone probably would have found them by now." I said. My cell phone rang and the snakes on a plane theme song by Cobra Starship (AN yes… this was influenced by the concert I went too, I just love that song) came on. I looked at the caller ID, it was Chad trying to freak Gabriella out and it was working big time.

Gabriella shivered. "This is just how it always starts, there is an obvious sign but the people always ignore it and get killed by the end!"

"What happened to Gabriella the skeptic?" I asked.

"The skeptics always die first." She said. I rolled my eyes and looked forward.

I opened my in-flight magazine and looked in the movie section, it was going to be about four hours or so (A/N I have no clue if this is accurate) I had time for a movie or two. "Hey Gabriella, guess what's coming on channel eight? Snakes on a Plane." I said.

"That is definitely a sign! I'm getting out of here!" She said, but the seat belt sign went on and the flight attendant's voice rang through the speaker system. Gabriella sunk down into her seat and buckled herself in. I did the same, the lady babbled about some of the safety precautions that I already knew by heart and then she said that the plane would be taking off momentarily. I turned on the little TV and waited for the reception to kick in. I watched Friends reruns for a half the way there then I attempted to sleep. It didn't quite work though. I was too excited.

"So you can't sleep either?" I turned, it was Troy.

"Nope, this is too weird, I mean first I'm stuck in like, the East High Adams family and now all of a sudden I'm flying to Hollywood to go to college with my ex-best friend a.k.a boyfriend, my former alcoholic brother, and his semi-girlfriend a.k.a my boyfriend's ex, and basically the rest of the 'Sharpay is a bitch' club." I said.

"You're not a bitch, and they know that, this is going to be better than High school for us." He said.

"What about Gabriella?" I asked, I know I shouldn't have but I did.

"She's just… under a lot of stress, she's going to a new place and I guess it's just getting to her." Troy said.

"No, I don't think that's it." I said, Troy froze, I wasn't buying it. "Just tell me okay? Why does she all of a sudden have something against me?" I asked.

Troy looked uneasy. "Uh…"

"You guys, can you stop whispering? I'm trying to sleep." Gabriella said from behind us.

I gave Troy a look that said 'see what I mean?' he looked back as if to say, 'sorry, we'll finish this later' only it really looked more like a 'thank god, I'm saved' type thing.

I woke up while Troy was tapping on my shoulder. We were landing. I scrunched my eyes and swallowed to stop my ears from popping. The plane was landing apparently. I woke up and looked outside, the sun was setting and there was a definite California vibe, you could just feel it.

I smiled. "Looks like we made it here." I said. I decided to temporarily let go the fact that Troy wouldn't tell me what was up.

"Yeah… we did, didn't we?" Troy smiled back at me, probably happy that I wasn't still talking about him and Gabriella, he looked like he was about to hug me.

I stretched my arms out and forced myself awake. Chad was snoring like an idiot and Taylor was pretending she didn't know him with Kelsi, Gabriella and Ryan. "Is that the plane landing?" I asked.

"Nope, just my boyfriend." Taylor said. "You were asleep through dinner, you had to miss the delicacy that is airplane food."

I smiled. "What was it this time?"

"Some form of chicken with unidentified sauce." Taylor laughed.

"You may now begin exiting the flight, thank you for flying…" The attendant said. That was all I needed to hear. I got up and brushed myself off from all the airplane junk. We got out of the plane and spent like, a half an hour trying to find our luggage, apparently there was some carry on mix up because Gabriella just _had_ to bring extra math books with her to touch up on before she entered college, but at least we got out. Because no matter where you are in the world airports are always the same, they only get better when you leave them.

"So, where to now?" I asked.

"I say we get straight to the dorms." Gabriella said, she seemed to recover from her phobia of snakes being everywhere somehow.

"Okay, let's go." Taylor said, I would have totally rather went around took in the LA scenery, and probably so would the rest of us, but it was clear that Taylor and Gabriella had their hearts set on checking out our current living arrangement, oh joy! Instead of checking out Hollywood we get to see an empty room! Don't you just love those two?

We got to the campus on a bus and then we some how found our way to our dorm building, Taylor, Gabriella, Kelsi and I requested a room together and luckily for us we got on. Troy and Ryan had a room with a few other people but Chad was with complete strangers. All together it was a pretty sweet deal. I was unpacking my stuff and setting up my bed when there was a knock at the door. "Hey." Troy said.

"Hey." I said back. "So what is it like in the boy's dorm?" I asked.

"My room consists of me and Ryan, an interpretive dancer and a actor whose primary focus is Shakespearian work." He said. "Is it just me or is pretty much every person going to this college more experienced than me?"

"Yeah, most likely. But trust me, I like my men naïve." I joked, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Um, you guys, I'm trying to keep the room clean from now on, okay?" Gabriella asked bitterly.

I looked at Troy, who shrugged. Over the summer Gabriella had sort of loosened up about Troy and I being together, but there was still sort of something that got to her about us, it was just that Troy insisted that she was okay. "Sure Gabs, we were just having a little fun." I reasoned.

"Yeah, well isn't that how all of the sluts start out? By having a little fun?" Gabriella asked. Even Taylor looked shocked.

"That was just a bit harsh." Taylor said.

She shrugged. "I'm just saying, maybe she should learn to keep what goes on with her and Troy to herself instead of trying to show off to all of us." She said, and they called me the drama queen.

"You have no right to go there, and for your information, I'm a virgin." I said, proud of my virginal status.

"Well then maybe you should act like one before people start getting ideas." Gabriella said in her bitter sweet voice.

Troy had to pull me back before I could lunge at her and her stupid polished halo. "Just let it go Sharpay, she's just stressed." Troy whispered in my ear, it had been his excuse for the past summer.

I dragged him outside the room and closed the door, standing so I was pinned against the wall. "Listen, what happened with you two last year? I know something did, we were friends before all of this!" I said.

"Sharpay, just believe me, she's fine." Troy said.

Taking advantage of the position we were in, he lightly touched the side of my face. He leaned in for a kiss and before we knew it we were sort of making out in the hallway, I pulled away once I realized what he was doing. "Troy…" I started, having to convince myself not to pull him back in "Don't do this."

"What? Is there something wrong?" He asked.

"No… it's just that you shouldn't use this as an excuse to stop talking about something you really don't want to talk about." I said, crossing my arms and leaning against the wall.

"I wasn't." Troy said rather unconvincingly. "Listen, I've got to go help set up the dorm, thanks for letting me chill here." He muttered then ran off to his room.

I huffed and went back into my room. Gabriella stopped talking to Taylor once I walked in. "I am so sorry Shar-"

"Just leave me alone." I said, collapsing onto my bed. Gabriella stared for a few seconds but then went on talking quietly to Taylor and Kelsi, finally she got the leave me alone concept down, now all I had to do was stop myself from killing her in my sleep, yup. Doesn't this all just say welcome to college?

**Okay, I finished two chapters yesterday because I had a lot of free time, I just finished editing today. I'm getting pretty fed up of having to watch my brother all day, so this is the only thing I really can do while keeping an eye on him. So yeah… this may be considered a filler chapter but what ever. Tell me what you think okay?**


	3. Crystal Blue Eyes

It was the unofficial welcome to college party. Just because we were an arts school doesn't mean that we didn't have the principle layouts of normal education, the violinists would be the typical math majors, the lyricists were the typical psychology majors, and the performers were the typical life of the party, no matter what major they were. Anyways back to the party. It wasn't the type of college party I expected, I expected a bunch of people casually dressed sipping lattes and discussing politics, I guess I shouldn't have trusted Legally blonde soon that factor of college life, it was like a house party times a thousand. It was in a mansion of some girl who lived near by and bought her way into the academy, that wasn't important, the party rocked. It was way crowded and perfect at the same time.

I sported a plain black tunic tube top, a pair of faded blue jeans, a plain black wrist band that said _MAKE MUSIC NOT WAR_ in bold red letters, a silver belt chain and a pair of black and white flats. My hair had light, individual waves and my dark undertones shown through. I approved myself in the mirror and left the dorm.

I looked at Gabriella who was just leaving too, she was wearing a pair of light jeans, a plain white cami top and a baby blue cardigan. "Um, are you sure that isn't too…" I started, searching for a word.

"Casual?" She asked cautiously.

"I was going to go with too third grad-ish." I said.

Gabriella looked down and shrugged. "I think I look fine." She said.

I shrugged, even Taylor was going with a white short sleeve blazer over a plain black mini dress and black sling back pumps. It worked for her, but Gabriella still looked bland. "Nice… ensemble Gabriella." Taylor said.

"Thanks." Gabriella said giving me a look that said 'I told you so'. I looked at Taylor who gave me a 'do you want to tell her or should I' type look and I returned her an 'it's too late, we've lost her' look.

"Let's just get to the party." I said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, come on." Taylor said and we all left.

We met up with the guys on the floor bellow us. "Taylor… wow, looks like the mathlete stepped out." Chad said, eying her, I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Just because you're my boyfriend doesn't mean you don't have to try and keep your tongue inside your mouth." Taylor said, crossing her arms.

"Why? I'd rather have my tongue in _your_ mouth." Chad said, putting his arms around her waist.

"Chad, stop it, you're acting like that Asian nerd from Mean Girls." I said.

Chad looked over his shoulder at me and tried to hide his smile, once again, it was all part of our twisted friendship. "Hey, where's you boy toy? The fashionably late time frame ended a few minutes ago." He said.

"Her boy_friend_ is right here." Troy said, putting his hands around my waist protectively from behind.

"Why? Is there anything wrong with being my boy toy?" I asked.

"I can't be your boy toy, we don't get enough primo make out time." He joked. (A/N Line inspired by ceruleanblues from the review for chap 2)

"That sucks, we only make out when you're hiding something." I joked back.

Troy smiled down at me, thank god he took a joke. "That's totally untrue! We also made out that one time in-"

I playfully slapped him to motion for him to stop the jokes. "Ow! Watch the manicure!" He said.

"Let's just go before Troy and Sharpay embarrass themselves even more." Gabriella said then walked to the stairs.

We all looked at each other and shrugged. "Is she PMSing?" Ryan dared to ask.

We all rolled our eyes and left. Once we got to the party it was already raging, after dancing to a few songs, Troy and I split up to do our own things, he met up with the guys and I did my usual party thing, I drifted until I found something interesting to do. I found Gabriella over by the punch bowl, or as I called it the fishing section. It was where girls like Gabriella waited for some unsuspecting guy to come and get some punch, then they would make a pretty much futile (depending on the boy) to get the poor dude to dance with her. And I thought college people were supposed to be more mature. "Gabriella, you do know that it would be easier just to ask some guy to dance right?" I asked.

"Actually, I've tried that… repeatedly." She said. I smiled, it was so hard to stay mad at her, she didn't have a problem with me alone, it's just when Troy and I went all couple on her I suddenly became public enemy number one.

"Good luck with that." I said and got my punch.

I left the fishing section and explored the mansion, I eventually found myself outside by the pool where a bunch of people were chilling. At parties I always loved hanging out by the pools because it was cool to be alone there, it was like a haven for outsiders, only everyone was cool there. I know it's probably geeky to use the word cool twice in one sentence but seriously that's possibly the only was to describe it. Everyone was so chill. I sat over by the huge cabaña type tented area that was placed expertly In the middle of the pool, a pretty much invisible clear glass pane that was specially constructed for this pool was the floor, it created the illusion that you were floating. There was a small glass bridge type thing that you could walk across to get there. All in all it was the dream pool of every person. (A/N Wow… I spent a paragraph describing a swimming pool… weird)

I joined the few people on the cabana and was chilling by the edge when an unfamiliar guy walked up to me. "So you must be new to hapa." The guy said.

I'd picked up that hapa was an acronym for Hathaway Academy of Performing Arts. "Why? Am I still wearing the sticker?" I asked, referring to the 'Hi! I'm new here!' sticker that administration had found necessary to provide all the students.

"Very funny." The guy said, knowing that no one ever wore those. "I meant that no freshmen are allowed on the cabana."

"I snuck into the senior prom in the eighth grade, I think I can pull this of." I said casually.

"Well you're doing a pretty good job of not getting yourself killed." He said with a smile. "Hi, I'm Travis Blake." He stuck out his hand for me.

"Sharpay Evans." I said, shaking it. "You play bass guitar, correct?" I asked.

He let go of my hand. "How can you tell?" He asked.

"Your hands, I've been around guitars my whole life, I know how bass guitar hands feel." I said.

"So you play?" He asked.

"Electric and sometime acoustic, I only break out the bass once in a while." I said.

"Seems like you know what you're working with." Travis smiled, as if he had an idea. "I have this band, and we're sort of looking for a cute guitarist to get us some attention." He said.

"Are you guys any good?" I asked.

"Whoa, I thought I was the one auditioning you!" Travis laughed.

I smiled. "We'll see about that." I said. "I'm here to launch my acting and singing career. Plus I have a boyfriend, making it impossible for me to be guy bate."

"Thus making you more desirable, to guy kind." He said. I let out a small laugh. "Just look into it okay?" He asked.

"I'll see what I can do." I said with a shrug. I only now got a real look at Travis, he definitely looked the way he was, with dirty blonde shaggy hair and a cutely quirky face he was definitely the punk type. And he had crystal blue eyes that I had only seen on one other person…

"Sharpay!" Someone called from outside the cabana.

"Since I'm most likely the only Sharpay here, I think I'd better go." I said.

"Wait." He said, scrawling his phone number on a napkin and handing it to me. "Call when you're ready to audition us." He said with a smile.

"Don't hold your breath." I said, even though we both knew that I would be calling him sometime about the band, I was already excited about it.

I left the cabana type tent thing and went in the direction of the voice that was calling me. It was Kelsi. "We're all going back now, are you coming?" Kelsi asked.

"Sure." I said. I looked back at the cabana type thing and winked at Travis (but only a friendly kiddish type wink like to say bye), and he nodded back.

"Who was that?" Kelsi asked.

"A guy who wants me to join his band." I shrugged.

"Well you guys seem pretty close for people who just met ten minutes ago." She said. "Did you tell him about Troy?" She asked.

My eyes widened. "Of course I did! You think I would cheat on Troy?"

"No! That's not it! You two kind of seem pretty close, that's all." Kelsi said quickly.

I took a deep breath, I loved Troy, and the idea of me cheating on him was just a little too much. "What ever, can we just go now?" I asked, trying not to sound too frustrated.

"Yeah, let's go." She said.

We met up with everyone else later. "So where were you guys?" I asked.

"That doesn't matter. Who was the cute guy that you were talking to?" Gabriella asked.

I gave Gabriella a toxic look. "Just some guy who wanted me to join a band." I said.

"I don't care, he was hott." Taylor smiled, nudging me.

"Wait… who was hott?" Troy asked.

"The guy Sharpay was talking to." Gabriella said with a huge smile pasted onto her face.

"Chill guys, it was just some dude asking me if I wanted to join his band." I said.

"Well are you going to?" Chad asked.

"I'm thinking about it." I said.

"Sharpay has a mystery dude!" Ryan teased.

"I do not have a mystery dude! His name is Travis." I said.

"Ooh! Sharpay is defending her mystery dude!" Gabriella sang in her annoying voice.

"I do not have a mystery dude and will you guys just shut up about the whole mystery dude thing? I'm in love with Troy remember?" I said loudly, and as if to throw it in Gabriella's face I put my head on Troy's shoulder and he put his arm around my waist.

It worked. "Stop that you guys! And Sharpay, shouldn't you go spend the night over with your mystery dude?" Gabriella started smiling and giggling to herself.

The rest of us though were silent. "That was really not funny." Kelsi said sounding serious.

"Yeah, you know Sharpay would never do that." Troy said, finally defending me.

Gabriella first looked down then crossed her arms and walked ahead of us. We were walking in dead silence for like, an excruciating five minutes when Chad finally spoke. "Wait, Travis Blake?"

I gave him an extremely thankful look. "Yeah, that's him." I said.

"He's one of my room mates. Pretty cool guy, doesn't seem like the type to steal another guy's girlfriend." Chad said.

"See guys? This whole thing is stupid." I said.

"I didn't think you would go behind my back and date some other guy." Troy said.

I smirked at Gabriella, I know it sounds weird but she totally deserved it. She gave me back this icy glare, if we were in a comic book she would be all like 'you win this time, but don't worry, I'll be back' followed by one of those evil laughs. "I'm getting tired let's get back to the dorms." I suggested.

The rest of the guys agreed and we left for the dorms, midway, Ryan stopped stared ahead. "Sharpay…?" He said, pointing to a silhouette in the distance walking towards us.

"No." I said, shaking my head.

"Is that…?" Troy started he didn't have to finish. As the person got closer Troy protectively stepped on front of me.

"Easy there Troy, can't a mother visit her own daughter anymore?" She asked. And then, the world that I thought had totally disappeared from my life, all came rushing back to me.

**Do you guys all remember Tina Evans? You know? The insane mother? Yeah, well she's back. Bummer. So Thanks to all you guys who reviewed it's very encouraging. I'm having the most boringest vacation ever so all of you guys reading and reviewing really helps. I am such a dork! I just realized that I gave Travis the same initials as Troy! Ha-ha! I also gave them the same eyes. I am so weird. Anyways feedback id totally appreciated! I'll try to update ASAP **


	4. Maybe next time

"So, little Sharpay went off to college, it sure sucks that I had to find that out from a neighbor." My mom said, taking a daring step closer to us.

I stepped back and Troy put his arm out protectively to stop my mom from getting any closer. "You've done enough, just leave her alone." Troy said, obviously remembering senior year.

A smile curled across my mom's lips. "Troy Bolton, I always knew you had a crush on Sharpay, I just never thought you'd follow her all the way to college." Troy frowned at her, I tried to silently remind him that we never told her about us. This apparently didn't stop my mom from her dramatic rant. "What happened to that other girl? Gabriella was it? She was such a fruit cake! I remember she would go to your house every day and decide to watch all of those stupid movies." She laughed like a lunatic, the sound of it was shrill, almost diabolical.

"Gabriella, this is Tina." I said, nodding back and forth.

Gabriella's face went completely blank. "You mean you're Sharpay… and Ryan… but-"

"For someone who spends all her time trying to butt into other peoples lives she's having a pretty hard time keeping up." Tina said.

"Hey!" Ryan said loudly, obviously unhappy with his mom dissing his crush.

"Relax Ryan, its not like she's your girl friend or anything." She said.

"Having some problems staying off the vodka, _mom_?" Ryan asked boldly.

"You can do whatever the hell you want Ryan, you belong to your father. I'm here to visit my daughter." She said.

"First of all, we never belonged to anyone, and second of all I'm eighteen, I don't have to talk to you, I don't have to hear from you, I don't even have to act like I know you when I see you walking by." I said coldly. "How does this benefit you anyway? I mean, you wouldn't come all the way here just to visit your only two children right?"

"I was given another chance, if I manage to envelope myself back into the community I'm home free." She said with a wicked smile.

"Remember the reason the community didn't want you?" I asked.

"Well honey, those were different times, and now I'm a whole new person." She said in a bitter sweet tone. "And all I have to do is get my children to love me again."

"If only you didn't already ruin your children's lives enough, maybe next time." I said.

"Good, because next time will be pretty soon, considering that I just moved into an apartment forty minutes away from your little college." She said.

"I'm calling your parole and checking your story." I said.

"Go ahead, I don't pay for you minutes." She shrugged.

"You never paid for anything you got." I said angrily.

"It won't do you any good though, they're already aware that I'm trying to become a part of my kid's life." She said using her annoying voice smothered in fake guilt.

"I'm not your kid, and now I don't even have to pretend like I am. So go ahead and move in where ever you want but that doesn't mean I ever have to see you at my college. And don't think just because you were my mom doesn't mean that I won't stick a restraining order on you." I said, crossing my arms.

"Fine, but trust me, I'll see you soon." She said, she walked in the opposite direction that we were going.

"She had a three to four year sentence, how did she get out after less than a year?" Ryan asked.

"She's our mom, she probably starting crying like a maniac to get their sympathy and slept around with the right people to get her out." I said angrily.

"She called me a fruit cake." Gabriella said out of no where.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Sorry about that, she's a little… well, most likely drunk at this point."

"I figured." Gabriella said. Last year this would have been a serious insult, but I just learned to accept it as reality. "I still can't believe someone would just do that, I mean imagine how many people she could have hurt, and she's still drinking." I wasn't mad at Gabriella for saying this, I understood what she was saying… or at least what she was trying to say.

Ryan looked down, looking embarrassed and guilty, he did sort of join in with the whole drinking thing, pretty soon he was classified as an alcoholic. It wasn't quite the best point in his life. It didn't help that now his semi-girlfriend resented alcoholics either. "Let's just get back to the dorms, I mean why should we be bothered by this?" Ryan said, obviously taking the role of the optimist.

"Yeah, let's not let her ruin our night." I said.

It was really my decision, because I was the only one that she needed something from, I was the only one she really had anything to do with. She didn't even need Ryan. Troy shrugged. "If you say so." He put his arm around my waist.

I smiled, forcing myself to be optimistic like Ryan. At least we were all in the same building, making it really easy to sneak out and hang at night. "Okay, let's go." I said.

I mean, what could she do? She could build a house two feet away from my school and I still wouldn't even have to bother telling her how to get to the nearest mall. Then why was I feeling so sick all of a sudden? It was a bad feeling. Like I knew nothing bad was going to happen, but at the same time I was keeping my guard up, just incase. "So, what were you guys doing the whole time while I was out with 'mystery dude'?" I asked with sarcasm.

"I met a few guys from my stage performing class." Chad said.

"Wow Chad, I never knew you rolled like that." I joked.

"Shut up, I have a girlfriend you know." He said, but not in an angry way. "Anyways they all said that former jocks don't usually get a long way here."

"That must suck, considering you are like the super jock." I said. "By the way, what made you give up on pursuing your basket ball dreams?" I asked.

"Simple, my dancing will get me noticed and then I'll have every option that I ever needed. If I just stuck to basket ball then I'd be set for life, I like having my options." He said.

"Sorry to poke a hole in your seemingly well orchestrated plan but they don't exactly play So You Think You Can Dance on ESPN to look for the next basket ball stars." I said.

"Well… I just wanted to come here." He said with a smile. I knew Chad speak, he came here for Taylor. They had a very twisted relationship but I could tell he loved every second of it.

Instead of just blurting it out and terminally embarrassing Chad I decided to go along with what ever he just said. "What ever, I'm sure your daddy can buy you a place on some team f your dancing career goes bust."

"Hey at least that gives me a bigger chance than you at getting somewhere." He said.

I rolled my eyes. "Come on, I think we'd better get off this subject before everyone else gets even more confused." It was true, every conversation I participated in was hard to follow for bystanders. It was probably because I was just that weird.

There was a slight pause, we all knew that we were still thinking about the whole motherly encounter, but none of us wanted to bring it back up. "Am I really a fruit cake?" Gabriella asked.

"You do kind of have a tendency to get just a tad bit fruit cake-ish at times." Taylor said. "Not that that's a bad thing."

"Yeah, there are tons of great… fruity people out there." Ryan said, patting Gabriella's shoulder.

"So just go out there and show the world just what fruit cakes can do!" Chad said and got a laugh out of just about everyone. I would have added something to the conversation, but I knew Gabriella would have turned on me, so I just laughed and stayed out of it.

xxx

The next day was the day before college started, a bunch of new people who decided to opt out of the pre-college party came in. Chad informed me that Travis and his band were working in the practice hall if I wanted to go listen and I said yeah. It wasn't like I was nervous, or that I was crushing on Travis like Gabriella assumed, I just had a good feeling about this band. I decided not to freak them out too much with a full on pre 'Hey! Hey! You! You! I don't like your girlfriend' Avril Lavigne type look. I went with converse shoes, jeans, and a fitted My Chemical Romance T-shirt. I was somewhat satisfied with how I looked.

I left the room just around the same time as Gabriella stepped inside. I paused, unsure of what to say. "Chad said that you were going to visit that Travis guy." She said.

"I'm not going to visit him, I'm going to see his band." I said.

"Just be careful, you don't want anyone getting ideas." She said, raising her eyebrows.

"Hm, actually I was about to tell you the same thing." I said harshly. She had a thing for my boyfriend, it was quite clear now.

"I-I have no clue what you're talking about." She said, all of a sudden backing down from her peppy but mean and annoying mode.

"Really? Because pretty much everyone else does." I said angrily and walked out. Honestly, she was getting to my last nerve.

**Okay, I don't like the way this chapter turned out very much but I guess it sort of works. Is anyone besides me getting really, really, really annoyed with Gabriella? If not then I'm doing a pretty bad job writing this. So in the pretty near future you guys will figure out what happened with Gabriella. So that's going to come up pretty soon I think, plus there is going to be more junk with Sharpay's mom. So tell me what you think, okay?**


	5. Just What I need

**This chapter is a definite rating T for teen. Just warning you.**

I had finally found my way to the practice hall. It had taken like, ten tries but at least I made it right? I went inside and they were already practicing. I sat in the back row so they wouldn't notice me.

They were doing a cover of Injection (the song isn't as scary as it sounds okay?) by Rise Against. Travis was the lead singer, I didn't quite expect that but what ever. I liked his voice, it was darker than most voices but not as dark as Rise against, it brought something new to the music, it was pretty awesome. There were two other guys besides Travis, another blonde guy, the guitarist who was obviously the second guitarist, he didn't do so well with the guitar parts while he was singing back up. Since Travis' voice wasn't exactly built for the screaming parts, the other blonde guy took over that part. The drummer had darkish brown hair, and was really good. He seemed like he was about to break the drums. All together they were great besides their lack of lead guitarist.

I wasn't intimidated by how good they were. I knew that I would fit in with them, thank god that performing arts college had more insane people than high school did. I mean, with out insane people where's the fun right? They finished the song and were getting water.

I stood up. "Not bad." I said "The guitar could have been better during the bridge though."

"That's where you come in." Travis said with a smile, putting his bass guitar down. "Guys, this is Sharpay, Sharpay, this is Mitchell and Tyler." He said.

"Travis says that getting a cute freshman on guitar that doesn't suck as much as I do might somehow help us charm our way into the showcase." The blonde guy –Mitchell- said while lifting up an amp.

"The showcase?" I asked, looking confused. Wow, I felt like a total freshman at that moment. Not a good feeling when you're in a room with a band that you want to join.

"The end of the year showcase, you know a bunch of scouts, huge crowds, possibly your one and only ticket to fame." Tyler said while twirling his drum sticks in his fingers.

"We have to audition to get in, and practically everyone who makes it into the show gets discovered one way or another." Travis said.

"I might be able to handle that." I said, nodding at the idea.

"First of all can you handle the band? I mean the music, the pace, the guitar solos?" Travis asked.

I smiled, picking up one of the acoustic guitars that were in the storage section. "Pick a song, any song." I said with a smirk.

"Okay… The Bird and the Worm by the Used." Mitchell offered.

I immediately played the song over in my head and put it into notes, I strummed across the strings of the guitar, I seemingly effortlessly perfected the chorus. "Anything harder?" I asked.

Travis and Mitchell looked at each other and nodded. "I think it's safe to say that you can keep up." Travis said with a smile.

"Wait! Can she try With You by Jessica Simpson?" Tyler asked.

Travis and Mitchell cracked up in the back ground. I smiled and rolled my eyes. "No can do, the real me isn't quite a southern girl with her Levis on and an open heart." I said.

Tyler shrugged. "She passed the Simpson test, I think she's in."

I smiled at their immature yet oh so relevant testing system. "Cool. Do you guys practice or was this it?" I asked.

"We have practice, get the details from Chad or something." Travis said.

"Or you can get them from me, you know, my door is always opened." Tyler said, taking a step closer to me.

"Back off Cinder-Tyler you never quite changed out of a pumpkin." Travis said. Tyler blushed and stepped back. "Besides, Blondie here has a boyfriend."

"Thus making her more desirable to guy kind." Tyler said.

"Exactly what I was thinking, she can put us directly on the map." Travis said. I never got that saying, if the map was the goal then where did the map lead? It didn't make any sense what so ever and it probably wasn't meant to (A/N sorry, random thought).

In my pocket my sidekick vibrated.

**shrpy,**

**hlping da guys wit da room**

**wanna hlp? **

**Gabi **

I sighed, by the sounds of it, Gabriella was making a non optional attempt to help the guys set up their room. "Okay then, you guys can go get us on the map or what ever but I've got to go, my room mate Gabriella picked today to go all Martha Stewart on us." I said, closing my sidekick.

"Sucks for you. We were going to offer to grab a bite to eat with us to talk music." Mitchell offered.

I looked over to the door. It was very, very tempting to hang with these guys instead of Gabriella. My mind flipped over to Troy, he wouldn't miss me too much… right? I mean, he needs some time with the guys after being a couple in our own little world 24/7. "Gabriella can wait a while for me to help put up the wall paper." I said with a shrug.

"Sweet, pizza sound good?" Travis asked.

I nodded. I know shirking off my friends wasn't the most polite thing to do, but I thought that it would be fine.

xxx

**(A/N this will probably be a one time thing but this section will be in gags Gabriella's POV)**

I closed my flip phone after calling Sharpay, I decided to embark on the duty of getting the guys room fit to live in. I really wanted to spend some time with the guys lately but couldn't figure out how, so I decided on this. Though I had my heart set on spending the afternoon talking one on one with Troy, he insisted on inviting Sharpay. Sharpay was the luckiest girl in the universe, she had Troy. And he was mine before that too, he said he was mine, and I actually believed him…

_I was walking home from Sharpay's house, completely hurt and confused. My boyfriend kissed her! Troy! My boyfriend, who I loved! Yes, I said it, loved! Kissed Sharpay! The outsider, I never even knew that they knew each other! At least she was a half decent person and told me about it. I went over to Troy's house next door, his parents were at a PTA meeting and he was home alone._

_I barged into his house with the key he gave me incase of emergency and stormed up to his room, the door was closed so I hit it furiously._

"_Troy!" I screamed, as I pounded on the door. "Open the door Troy!" I yelled and broke down, right at his doorstep._

_The door swung open and I collapsed, falling inside of his house. "Gabriella?" Troy asked in a slurred voice._

"_Are you drunk?" I asked. I knew Troy's parents trusted him like nothing else, it wouldn't have been very hard for him to get his hands on something of the alcoholic nature._

"_No… no, I'm just happy to see you is all, really, really happy." Troy said with a dopey smile. I slapped him hard across the face. "Ow! What was that for?" Troy cried._

"_That was for kissing Sharpay!" I screamed in his face._

"_You know! Why did she tell you? Who did you find out from?" Troy yelled. He sat down on his bed and rested his head in his hands._

_I felt so sorry for him, he was definitely hurt, and as his girlfriend I should have been there for him right? I knelt down on front of him and lightly touched his cheek. He winced in pain, presumably from my slap. I felt I tinge of guilt for causing him this pain. "I'm sorry baby." I said, holding up his head._

"_I'm sorry too, I should have never kissed Shar-" He didn't finish her name, I didn't notice the slight amount of pain while he was saying this though._

_I smiled, tears flowing down my eyes. "I know… It's just that I love you." I said, sounding truly pathetic. "I love you… so, so much."_

"_I love you too." Troy said, still in his slurred voice._

"_You… you mean it?" I asked. I was too mesmerized by his words to recognize the alcohol in his voice. I was more drunk than he was at that moment, I was drunk on him, on the delusion that I loved him and he loved me back. _

_I kissed him, and he kissed back, wrapping his warm arms around me and pulling me onto his bed. This was definitely farther than anything that we had ever done before. I felt so strange as Troy slipped his hand up my shirt, unclasping my bra. Tingles ran through my body and I gasped when I realized what was happening: this was it, this was my first time. I couldn't stop myself, I wanted it too much, I wanted him too much, and I wanted to be loved too much. The pain that was so secretively talked about was nothing compared to the internal turmoil. Something about it just didn't feel right, like it was one sided, like we were both confused. I cried, but not because of the pain, but because I wanted it, and I didn't know if I should have. It didn't last long, not long at all. But in a way, it was the longest experience of my entire life._

_When it was over I felt a weird feeling… relieved? Maybe… but all I know was that I didn't like the feeling. I put my clothes back on, looking down at my right hand, what I saw made my stomach churn. A purity ring, a symbol of my promise to myself and my future husband that I would remain pure until marriage. My dad gave it to me when I was only five. He said that I should never make the same mistake that he did. Apparently I was that mistake. That, and my parent's relationship. Troy was knocked out on the bed. I decided to leave him there and go home. And to think that this was all over one lousy kiss. _

The next day I was informed that what happened was a mistake from Troy himself… just another mistake, just like me to put in my collection. Just what I needed.

**Okay… that's chapter five, hoped you liked it. I think this may have somewhat explained Gabriella's bitterness towards Sharpay. I **hope** you guys like it. Tell me what ya think okay?**


	6. Shut Up

**Yeah… still in Gabriella's POV for a while**

I shouldn't have been thinking about that day. Not at all. Not while I was in the same room as him. I would only feel worse… and he would see. I've heard these stories, I'd seen them on soap operas, and every time it happened to someone, they ended up hating the person, never talking to them again. For me it wasn't like that, he took a part of me, and turned it into a part of him. And it hurt like hell, because every time I saw him, I wanted it to happen again. I wanted him to tell me he loved me, and I wanted him to show me. It was like I was still connected to him, only I wasn't significant to him. Buy I wanted to be. _Not now Gabriella… it wasn't meant to be_ I unconvincingly repeated to myself.

"So… what exactly are we doing?" Troy asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I looked up, trying to stall. "Um… we're setting up your room, Kelsi is going to warn your room mates, Chad is going to get paint, Taylor is getting some electronics that her uncle is donating, Ryan is getting snacks, and Sharpay-"

"She's coming right?" Troy asked.

I looked down uncomfortably. I hated hearing that. Don't get me wrong, Sharpay was a really, really great person… but she had Troy, and that was too much for me to handle. And the worst part was that they were in love, genuine, pure, true love. It couldn't even have been counted as a love triangle because I had no chance what so ever. "Who do you mean?" I asked, even though I knew perfectly well who he meant.

"Shar-Sharpay." He said, I could tell that he wasn't quite enjoying this either.

I sighed…. This was going to be weird. "Listen Troy-"

"Look, I didn't mean…" We both stopped and blushed heavily. "I'm sorry… you go first." Troy said.

I looked down at my feet. "Look, I know that we both feel bad about what happened last year. I'm sorry things ended the way they did… I just wish I knew if it would have worked out or not." I said.

Troy stared at me blankly, as if he was unsure of what was going to happen. I took a step closer to him. He flinched and took a step back tripping over some boxes. "Troy! Are you okay?" I asked, running to his side.

"No… I mean yes, I mean, I can't do this Gabriella, I'm with Sharpay." He said, trying desperately to pull himself up.

I lightly put my hand on his chest, keeping him down. "Troy… after all of this, I think I deserve to know how this would have tuned out." I said.

Troy looked up at me. "Gabriella… I can't, just listen okay? I'm in love with Sharpay, I can't do this to her." He said, those words cut me, I was never actually formally rejected by Troy… until now. I wonder if this was how Sharpay felt after the kiss but before they were dating? It couldn't have felt that was… could it have? Only now it hurts more, because I know that they love each other. I have no chance.

I shook my head. "You're not doing anything to her… you're doing this for me." I whispered. "Please Troy, I just need to know." I begged.

He didn't protest… that or he just didn't see it coming. I leaned in, placing a kiss on his lips, a long, empty kiss. The one word I would use to describe it would be lifeless, at least on his part, for me it was like I was bliss, pure bliss, it was what I had wished for the past year, but it wasn't how I hoped it would be. There was no depth, just (dare I say it) lust. Troy didn't move, like he was shocked and hurt at the same time… like he hated doing this. We were making out like we only did once before, but it was different, back then I actually believed that we belonged together. Now it was like I finally saw that we were pointless, and sure I lost something, but if I didn't stop doing what I was doing, I would lose something else.

I pulled away from Troy. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for hat to happen." I said.

"Yeah… me neither." Troy said in a dazed voice. At that moment I couldn't believe what I just did to him... I made him cheat on his girlfriend, well he didn't stop me so it wasn't my fault... right? But, how could he stop me? I mean, I did sort of have him trapped.

"Look, we aren't ever going to be together… are we?" I asked.

Troy paused then shook his head. "No, I'm sorry Gabriella but-"

"No, don't be, I'm sorry, I almost ruined things with you and Sharpay over something that was totally untrue." I said, all of a sudden feeling guilty. I pulled myself off him and he got up too. I dusted myself off. "You really love he don't you?" I asked.

Troy smiled, it made my heart break, but I was actually healing. "Yes, I really do. But Gabriella please, about today-"

"Don't worry about it, no one has to know." I said, shaking my head. "Thanks though… I think I needed this." I said with as much of a smile as I could force myself to put on. I was going to miss Troy, he was my first love, and yes, I did say love. But I knew that I wasn't his, and he didn't belong with me after all.

xxx

**Okay… back to Sharpay's POV (just so ya know it was so hard to try to identify with Gabriella, there is too much goody-goody stuff in her mind that I have to push past… okay, back to the story)**

"So do you guys only do covers?" I asked, I was at a local pizza place with Travis, Tyler, and Mitchell aka Death Valley the band (A/N not an actual band and the name kind of sucks cuz I came up with it on super short notice) that I was joining.

"Nope, we have some original stuff too, not much though, we're waiting for our record deal to use it though." Mitchell explained.

I nodded. "Makes enough sense."

"Now that we have a girl in the band we might be able to take on some Evanescence, can you handle that?" Travis asked.

I smirked. "Oh please, I got into this school with a scholarship on Evanescence." I bragged, leaning back in my seat.

"Excellent. You definitely already know how to stand out." Mitchell said.

"Oh, you definitely stand out to me." Tyler said, raising his eyebrows. He was hitting on me for the like, the ten thousandth time. I think it became our thing, like an inside joke.

I smiled. "Okay, You have embarrassed yourself multiple times today, but that? Yeah, that was just lame." I said.

Mitchell and Travis laughed. "Dude, accept it, she has a boyfriend." Travis said.

"The first eight times it was cute, now it's just pathetic." I said.

Tyler smiled. "I will get you to fall for me my love." He said jokingly in some foreign accent.

"Sure, and I'll go marry K-Fed and shave my head." I said sarcastically.

"Hey… that's not a bad idea, it would totally get us some attention." Mitchell said.

I rolled my eyes and looked down at my watch, 3:25. "Crap, I think I'd better go now, thanks for the pizza though." I said, getting up.

"We'd better go too guys, I don't think Natasha would be too happy if you get late again Mitchell." Travis said.

"Wait, you have a girlfriend?" I asked, cracking up at the thought.

"Yeah, the second hottest girl on campus, who has to know about us?" Mitchell asked.

"There is no us, no I've got to go before Gabriella paints my boyfriends room a shade of orange that no one can pronounce let alone look at." I said.

"Good luck with that." Travis said with a smile. "Tell them to stay away from the bright colors too, this may be college but people still get beaten up for being dorks."

I let out a small laugh. "Thanks for the advice."

Travis nodded and I left. Before heading to the dorms I headed to the nearest convenient store and picked up some junk, paint tape, brushes, measuring tape, yada yada yada and headed back to the dorms. When I got there it was like deserted, Gabriella probably sent everyone out on shopping trips or something. I got to Troy's dorm and pulled the key he gave me out of my pocket. I quietly unlocked the door.

What I saw seriously scared me. Gabriella on top of Troy kissing him. I shook my head and closed the door, not wanting to believe what I saw. I ran across the hall into the nearest dorm. Luckily the door was unlocked. I stood in the middle of someone else's room and just cried. I know, pathetic right? How Gabriella-ish of me. But it seriously hurt to see that happening.

"Sharpay? What are you doing here?" Asked a familiar voice… this was Chad's room, and Travis was his room mate. "Wow, I didn't know you were that crushed about Tyler having a girlfriend." He said sarcastically.

"Shut up Travis!" I said, sitting on the nearest bed. I put my face in my hands and tried to hide my tears pointlessly.

"Whoa… wait, are you crying?" He asked, sitting down next to me. "What happened?" He placed his hand on my back, letting me cry.

I lifted my face. "My boyfriend, he and his ex…" I trailed off, he knew where this was going.

"Wait… Mr. Perfect that you've been talking about all through lunch cheated on you?" He asked.

"Oh, thanks, that makes me feel so much better." I said, still sobbing.

"I'm sorry… are you okay?" He asked.

"He cheated on me, he probably still is. He didn't see me see him." I sobbed.

"He's an ass for doing that to you." He said sympathetically.

"No… he isn't, he's the greatest guy I've ever met." I sobbed harder.

He had the decency not to talk, he just let me cry into his chest, he stroked my hair calmingly and just let me cry. That was just about the best thing that anyone could have done for me at that moment. I know it may seem hard to believe, but Travis was an awesome guy, he wasn't coming on to me and he was at this moment the best friend that I could ask for. He wasn't a bad guy.

"Hey Travis do you know if they have paint in the school sto-" I heard a familiar voice entering the room, Chad. "What the hell is going on?" He asked. "Sharpay, were you two just…" He didn't have to finish.

"Chill Chad, it wasn't like that." Travis said. "Her boyfriend just-"

"Doesn't have to know? Is that what you were going to say?" Chad asked. "Troy is my best friend, and he loves her like crazy so you can't be here getting all cozy with her!" Chad yelled. (A/N Wow… he and Taylor really are perfect for each other… remember in the first story?).

"Chad… that's not what happened, okay?" I asked, drying my eyes.

"You, just don't say anything. First you kiss Troy when he's with another girl and now this? Just do the world a favor and stop being such a slut." He said angrily.

"Hey! Back off her, you have no idea what just happened!" Travis said defending me.

"You shut up! You knew she had a boyfriend and you still did this!" Chad said, in a voice just bellow yelling. "What are you going to do now? Attack me with your stupid band?"

Travis was at boiling point now. He threw a punch at Chad who didn't bother trying to make peace. Pretty soon I was witnessing a fight between two of my best guy friends… all because of me.

"Guys! Stop it!" I yelled. Oh yeah, don't listen to the girl you're fighting about, that makes perfect sense. I ran across the hall and opened the door. Luckily for me, Gabriella and Troy had gotten off each other. "Chad and Travis are fighting! Come on, you've got to help!" I said quickly.

They both ran with me across the hall and Troy stepped in between them, just managing to pull them apart. "You guys break it up! This whole thing is stupid!"

"This was all him Troy! He threw the first punch!" Chad accused, pointing over at Travis.

Troy turned to look at Travis. "So you're the lucky bastard." Travis said with a smile. "and that must be the ex girlfriend… Gabriella, is it?" He asked.

"What is he talking about?" Gabriella asked.

I turned to her angrily. "You know what? Just shut up." I said plainly and walked out. This was all that I could take.

**Okay… here is chapter six. I don't quite like the way I wrote this chapter but it'll do. For the record I will most likely never attempt to get into Gabriella's mind ever, ****ever ****EVER**** again**.** I think I got the lucky bastard line from someone else's story… I just can't remember which story … please don't sue me!!! Tell me what you think, okay?**


	7. Stupid Memories

I walked away from all of that stupidity totally confused. I think I went as far off campus as possible to a weird field type place that I think was in memorial of someone who went here. I just paced back and forth, trying to clear my head. I know it may have done me some good to stay since Gabriella is like a mini Dr. Phil, and they were probably sorting this whole thing out right now. But for me, I had the right to be mad, and confused, and hurt, and feeling like I was about to puke… at least I think I did. I just paced back and forth with my arms crossed. I must have looked really weird to people passing by but it wasn't like I cared.

"Sharpay… what happened?" Asked 'Dr. Phil' from a few yards away. What gave her the nerve to follow me?

"I mean with you and Travis, look Troy is a great guy and why would you do that to him?" she asked.

It all of a sudden dawned on me, she thought I was cheating on Troy with Travis too (A/N try saying that ten times fast), after Troy and her cheated on me. Which as you can guess, did get me pretty ticked. "Gabriella… you don't know anything about this, all you know is how to get caught kissing my boyfriend"

"Y-you saw that…?" She asked. At least she wasn't trying to hide it, but at this moment, that didn't help.

"Yes, and you know what? I knew you liked Troy, but this?" I asked, now blinking back tears.

"It wasn't what it looked like okay?" She said… oldest line in the book much? Well, it is Gabriella we're talking about.

I looked at her, almost surprised by her newly found super lameness. "Do you realize how many people you two hurt by doing this? Me, Travis, Chad, Ryan…"

Gabriella went pale. "I never meant to hurt Ryan-"

"Well you did." I said, I surprised myself at how harsh I was but I wasn't thinking about that at that moment. "And besides, the explanations behind someone kissing someone else's boyfriend are usually pretty standard." I snapped.

"I only wanted to know if it would work between us, now I know that it wouldn't, please, don't blame this on Troy." She said, crying. Yes, she was actually crying after she did this to me.

"Did I not make it clear that I loved him!?" I yelled at her.

She choked back tears. "I knew that you loved him but all I wanted was-"

"You know what? I don't care." I lied, convincingly too (if I do say so myself) just not to myself. "You can go marry Troy for all I care! Because to tell you the truth you two deserve each other."

"You don't know anything about Troy, if you did you would know that he loves you and you would love him back." She accused just as I was turning to walk away.

I turned and looked at her, now unable to control my crying by any means. "I did." I said simply.

Now she was crying, out of pain, guilt, confusion, I don't know, but she looked like she was for the first time realizing what she had just done. "Tr-Troy and me… in the fall… he was drunk… he told me he loved me we-we… I-"

It didn't take me long to connect the dots. "When? When did this happen?" I asked, I guess jus a bit of my anger must have shown through because Gabriella was now crying even harder. "Look… just tell me when it happened." I said, showing no emotion.

"The first day of school… after I went to your house I went to his next door." She sobbed.

I shook my head, backing away from her. I clenched my fists and squeezed my hands so hard that I was almost sure that my nails would leave marks in my hand. "I can't believe him."

"No-no… it wasn't his fault Sharpay! I just thought you deserved to know." Gabriella said.

She started trying to convince me that Troy was a good guy… it didn't work. I walked away, not bothering to look back. I didn't care if Gabriella for some reason wanted me and Troy back together, I didn't need this. It just didn't make any sense. Why after all of this would she turn around and try to get us together? I didn't get it, and at that moment, I couldn't stop thinking about it. This whole thing just made me want to go to sleep and never wake up, it was like I just wished that things would just go back to before Troy… before my mom… before all of this crap. I just wished that I could go back to being a loner, only I couldn't because I loved Troy… I didn't want to but I did.

I walked over to the practice hall, it was really the only place that I knew how to get to. I sat at the piano bench and instinctively ran my hands over the keys in an intricate piano piece that I had learned when I was seven because my dad made me take lessons since I was five, even back then I was a fast learner when it came to music. I never really liked the piano, or I didn't like the sound it made. It was too tamed, too sweet, too unable to display sadness or pain, but back when I was seven I probably rephrased it into something like 'it sounds ugly'. I played piano until I was nine, then I dropped it for guitar, which was much more satisfying to me.

I remember when we were ten Troy used to talk about starting a band when we got older… he even brought drum sticks to lunch everyday to try and create beats for songs. He made it pretty obvious that he'd never had lessons before. But that was just Troy being Troy. Always trying to find a way to hang out, like when we were thirteen he took up skateboarding just so he could hang at the skate park with me after school. Once he even tried to grind off of this really huge ramp just to be accepted by the skaters… resulting in a fractured rib, a broken arm, and the loss of his last remaining baby tooth. Stupid memories… they always managed to make me smile, but it still hurt like hell… especially since practically every good memory I had involved Troy.

"Why? Why did you do that?" A very, very painfully familiar voice came from the entrance.

"Why did I do what Troy?" I asked, struggling to look angry instead of hurt.

"Don't play dumb, Chad saw you with that Travis guy! You're with me, not him."

"Yeah, well apparently you're not just with me Troy." I said before I thought. "What about Gabriella?"

Troy went pale… paler than Gabriella went. "I-I… how did you know?"

"I was sort of there Troy, and besides, would it have made a difference? Would you have ever told me that you made out with her?" I yelled, not caring if people heard from outside.

"So that's why you with Travis? To get back at me?" Troy asked, now sounding as angry as I was.

"Travis was being a friend… which is a lot more than you ever were!" I said angrily. I let just a little bit of sadness show in my eyes. "I-I… I thought I loved you okay?" Troy looked taken back, as if I just fatally injured him. I quickly regained my composure and looked at him angrily. "But it turns out you were just trying to do to me what you did to Gabriella."

"What? I never did anything to her." He said.

"Oh really? The first day of school? The day after we kissed? Just hours before you asked if I liked you as more than a friend?" I screamed.

Troy's mouth dropped open. He shook his head and walked backwards. "No… no… you don't know what happened you can't know what happened!" If I wasn't so angry I would be worried that he was having a panic attack.

"I do Troy… you had sex with her… and you were never going to tell me." I said coldly.

Troy looked like he was about to puke. "Sharpay it wasn't… I was… we didn't…"

"Just leave me alone okay?" I asked.

He looked like he was choking back tears. "I was drunk, and alone, and hurt, and confused-"

"Well just imagine or at least try to imagine how I felt at that moment." I said, trying no to cry myself.

"I'm sorry Sharpay… I know I was stupid." He said, obviously still not getting it.

"That's not it Troy." I said. "What you did before you were with me isn't my problem. I just want to know… did you love me when it happened or did you not?" I asked calmly.

Troy looked at me as if I was holding a gun to his head. "I-I…" He paused and looked down. "I always loved you."

Any other day I would have totally melted when he said this but not today. "Then why did you say you loved her?" Troy just remained looking down pathetically. I shook my head. "Because you never loved me." I answered for him and walked out of the practice hall. "And tell Gabriella I'll be staying at a hotel or something until I can get a new dorm." I said, not even bothering to look back at my boyfriend. I know it may have been stupid to just throw a tantrum like this but I just didn't care… not one bit.

**Okay… that's chapter seven. It feels like I haven't updated in eternity, cuz I haven't found a lot of computer time recently. I hope you guys like this one… to be honest I don't quite like it. I don't like my writing all that much lately so be brutally honest… did this suck? I'm just having this creepy writer's block thing so don't take this author's note too seriously. Oh… and one more thing. I keep on forgetting to ask so should I make the sub pairing Ryella or Ryelsi? I pretty much need to figure that out now… I don't have a clue if I should even add a sub pairing so this is strictly majority rule okay? Just tell me what you think.**


	8. Getting Over You

I packed up my junk while everyone else was busy working on the room… accept for Chad, Gabriella and Troy who had magically disappeared after today's happenings. I got all my books and clothes and guitar and all that junk and just left. I left a note and all but that was mainly so that Ryan wouldn't send out the search and rescue team. I decided on a hotel just a few miles off campus, it wasn't that bad of a place, a bunch of students on the dorm waiting list were staying there so I guess it wasn't all that bad. I got to the lobby and there was a line… that's what I get for picking the day before the first day of school o get mad at all of my friends.

"Did your roommates kick you out too?" The guy on front of me asked. Travis was here? Chad must be pretty ticked.

"I'm pretty sure I left by mutual agreement." I smiled, how could I not? This was just so typical. "So is Chad still pissed?"

"Pissed enough to throw his high school yearbook at my head." He shrugged. "I guess I should have seen it coming, he is a total freshman."

I playfully hit him in the arm. "Hello! Freshman here!" I laughed.

"Sorry, but you have got o admit, Chad and you are just a little bit different when it comes to maturity." He said.

"True… very true. But seriously, don't talk, Tyler is more of a six year old than Chad will ever be." I said.

"Yeah, but he has that six year old ability to scream and never lose his voice." He pointed out.

I took this into consideration and nodded. "Yeah, it's definitely worth it."

Travis smiled down at me. "How about we ditch this place and go clubbing tonight?"

I raised my eyebrows. "Dude… I just broke up with my boyfriend." I said, right then it hit me that we were over, like totally completely over, there was probably no going back… suckish much?

"Not that way, you're cute and all but definitely not my type… I meant as friends." He laughed.

I shrugged, looking at the line of college people waiting to get in. "Won't we like, wake up late or what ever?"

"The first day is the opening ceremony, the whole thing where you meet your peers and then the people who lost their schedules get an hour to find a way to get to their classes… all of which are extremely easy to ditch." He said temptingly… I was bored to death and heart broken, what else is there to do besides party and avoid my problems?

"So… we do absolutely nothing tomorrow?" I asked. Travis nodded. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted Legally Blonde on the whole college experience thing." I joked.

"It's an inspirational dramatic chick flick comedy… what do you expect?" He asked.

I smiled. "True… very true. Do you know any good places?" I asked.

"Listen, I went to school in LA for a year, how could I not know any good places?" He said sarcastically.

"I mean any good places that will let eighteen year olds in." I said.

"Not unless you define Chuck E. Cheese as a good place." He said. "But no worries, I've got connections."

"This isn't going to wind me up in the witness protection program is it?" I asked.

"Chill Blondie, I'm no godfather or Tony Soprano or whatever." He said in a bad accent.

"Then stick to guitar and singing. That was possibly the worst accent I've ever heard… aside from my brother's impression of Arnold Schwarzenegger." I said, recalling a High school party where Ryan got especially wasted… I cringed at the memory, that wasn't exactly the highlight of Ryan's existence, even though it did get one of the wannabe-Goth kids to laugh.

Travis rolled his eyes. "Let's go, my old friend Al is a security guard at this great hot spot, we can get in no problem."

"Did you just use the term hot spot?"

"What ever let's go." He said, pulling me by the hand out of the line.

I shrugged and went with it. We only drove like, ten miles before we got to the city, it was the most beautiful place in the world. We finally got to the 'hot spot' which was pretty packed for a Sunday night. As promised, we got to cut on front of the line (which was actually not much longer than the one at the hotel) and go straight to the security. "Hey Al, left the ID at home, can you let this one slide?" Travis asked.

"Sure Trav… who is this?" He asked pointing to me.

"No one special." He said with a joking look in his eyes.

I punched his arm… making sure it actually hurt. "I'm his cousin, Travis here couldn't find a date so he begged me to come." I said, satisfied with my acting skills.

I could tell that Al was trying hard not to laugh. "Um… you guys can go ahead." He said.

As soon as we got past him Travis rubbed his arm. "That hurt! And my cousin? Seriously are you out to ruin my rep around here?" He asked in a whispered tone.

"Only temporarily. You'll live. Besides, you started it Mr. No one special, I rule and you know it." I said patting his shoulder making him wince. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go change, if you haven't noticed my current ensemble isn't exactly club worthy."

"But how will you get back in?" He asked.

"Hello? Blonde rich girl here, I was born knowing how to sneak into places where I don't belong." (A/N no offence to blonde and/or rich people).

Travis rolled his eyes. "Just meet me over by the stage."

I saluted him jokingly and took off. I managed to pass myself off as a bartender and changed in the back dressing room, I decided on a fitted black mini dress and strappy stiletto heels… why I packed these items of clothing for college? I don't know, but I looked hott (note the two T's). It was actually was kind of liberating that I could look hott without having anyone to look hott for. It was nice to know that I didn't look as messed up as this whole experience would suggest. I snuck my bag back into the car then went in through the back… funny how people let an eighteen year old girl into a twenty one and over club just because she says she's a bartender. But at least it got me in… it wasn't as if I was going to drink anyways so it didn't really matter.

Anyways, when I got back into the club they were playing some pop-rock music that I quite didn't mind _that_ much… well, at least it wasn't techno. I got to the stage where Travis was talking to some girl, I decided not to interrupt… I had wrecked his rep enough for one night. I drifted for a while before I saw the most terrifying sight ever: Troy and Chad entering the club. I rushed back to the stage where Travis was still talking to that girl.

I rolled my eyes when I saw that he was feeding her some pretty tall lies. "…and after we got our record deal I just had to break up with her, I mean what we had was special but I just knew that she was in love with Tyler anyways so I decided that it was best for both of us if we just went our separate ways."

"Wow… I never thought musicians could be so deep." The girl said. Even Travis seemed awed at how stupid she seemed at that moment.

Despite my current situation I decided to save his ass… but first I made sure that Troy was no where near us. "Hey babe, I was looking for you everywhere, where have you been?" I asked, wrapping my arms around him.

At first Travis looked confused then he caught on. "Just chatting with… Clarissa was it?" He asked.

"Um… yeah, actually it was Melissa." Clarissa/Melissa explained.

"Well, bye Clarissa!" I said, placing a short kiss on Travis's lips shortly after. Okay, before you go making assumptions, let me just say that we were **JUST FRIENDS** and the kiss was completely **INNOCENT**. I didn't feel anything, nor did I have the desire to do it **EVER AGAIN**. Get it? Good…

As soon as what's her name left Travis and I broke apart. "Thank you so much, that girl was like a slightly less smart Paris Hilton." He said.

"Yeah, yeah, just pop a tic tac or something, you breath tastes like nachos." I complained.

"Really? I didn't have nachos toady." He shrugged.

"That can't be good." I smiled before remembering why I came. "Troy and Chad are here."

"Huh? Wait… them? Why are they here?" He asked.

"Why are you asking me?" I panicked.

"Okay… just avoid them, they're not here for you." He said. I repeated that to myself over and over… it didn't help.

(A/N Okay… here we go again with the other person's POV… Troy's this time.)

"Why did I let you convince me to come here?" I asked, hitting my head against the dash board of Chad's rented SUV.

"Because, Sharpay was being a bitch and you need to get over her." Chad said, pulling into the parking lot of a really busy club.

"She wasn't being a bitch… and what if I don't want to get over her?" I asked defensively.

"Dude… she cheated on you… she's a cheating lying bitch-"

"Don't ever say that about her." I snapped, suddenly wanting to beat up Troy for that last comment.

The car was silent for a minute, minus the distant beat of music from the club. Chad tapped me on the shoulder "Dude-"

"Sorry man, I just don't want to hear it." I said… trying to get off the subject of my ex-girlfriend.

"No, Troy… that's her car." He said, pointing through the tinted windows to a silver Porche convertible customized to be fuel efficient and environmentally friendly (A/N Far fetched, I know)… one of the many extremely expensive guilt gifts given to her by her dad. "Do you want to leave?"

Against my better judgment I shook my head. "No… we're not together anymore, you and I can be here, and we have the same rights as her to be here." I said… over looking the fact hat we were both illegally sneaking into a club. I shrugged it off and got out of the car.

After the long wait in line, we finally got into the club with the help of some fake IDs we made with the help of the computer geeks junior year. I'd never actually used mine though, they looked completely realistic, the science geeks came through pretty well, and all it took was a hand slap or two in the hallways. One of the many perks of being a high school basketball king something I pretty much gave up on after Sharpay and I started dating.

"ID please?" The guy at the entrance asked. Suddenly I started to wonder how Sharpay got in, what she was wearing, where she was planning to go after she got tired of the club. I snapped out of it and handed him my card. The guy looked skeptical… I mean, when do two (straight) guys go clubbing together? "When was your birthday?" He asked.

"June fifth, eighty two." I said simply.

"Right… and how old does that make you?" He asked.

"Twenty five." I shrugged.

The guy still looked skeptical. "Okay… you guys can go in." He said.

We entered and it was pretty packed. Chad convinced me to let us split up… after he forced me against my will to come. I did my usual party thing and just walked around surveying the party area. Eventually something caught my eye. A group of people hanging out on the stage… Sharpay and Travis… what were they doing together? And there was another girl who was just standing there, the sight of Sharpay sliding her arms around Travis's waist was enough to make me sick, but then she kissed him… worse. There was no doubt, she started the kiss, it was short, but painful to watch. I turned away… focusing my attention to the nearest feature that attracted my eye: the bar.

**DUN! DUN! DUN!** **What's gonna happen? Huh? Huh? Okay… no. ****I'll never do that again… I promise, but really. I' aware that this chapter was sort of a rip off so I'll try to continue on it ASAP… tell me what you think okay?**

**And P.S. thank you to all you guys who suggested Ryella/ Ryelsi/ no sub pairing and to you guys who supported my taste as a writer enough to let me decide… it was waaay flattering but I'm seriously just going by vote… I think Ryelsi is currently winning… PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU GUYS WANT IT TO BE!!! Okay… done begging but really. **

**P.P.S Where are all the Troypay authors? You guys need to update too!**


	9. These Teen Hearts

**MAJOR TYPO!!! In the last chapter Sharpay said 'I was going to drink anyways' or something like that which was a typo… I meant wasn't instead of was cuz if you remember Shar's mom was an alcoholic so I don't think she'll be drinking any time soon… sorry for the confusion… back to the story now… **

**Troy POV (or at least attempted)**

I pulled the ID out of my pocket and approached the bar. "What can I do you for?" The female bartender asked.

I didn't bother thinking about the possible double meaning in that term and ordered a drink. "Vodka, straight up." I hoped that it made sense… I read somewhere that vodka was like… ten beers and straight up was something that I think I got from watching Coyote Ugly a million times with Gabriella (it may have helped if we had Ryan here and his expertise on all things alcoholic…not that he would tell us after what he went through last year).

Like everyone else the bartender seemed unsure of my age… I mean, even when I was nineteen I looked sixteen. Curse my evil baby face. I slipped my ID onto the table and she smiled. "Coming right up."

I looked back over at were Sharpay and Travis were standing, they had ended their make out session and were just talking… still I didn't turn back. Why you may ask? Because I was totally and completely confused… yeah, I don't know how guys say this with out sounding like wimpy soap opera dudes but I loved Sharpay… and I still did, were we over? I didn't want to be. She seemed to get along pretty well with out me. And I didn't know what to make of anything anymore. The girl put the drink on the table, she seemed to forget about me paying for it… too worried that she was serving a high school student, and too afraid to lose her job if she didn't give the drink. It didn't really matter to me, I just took my first drink of the poison. I had to try really hard not to change my facial expression when the liquid slid down my throat (A/N Sorry if I don't describe it correctly… I'm not a drinker). I despised the taste, but the feeling I got when I drank it down was pure bliss, like the entire room was a huge fun house mirror, and I was just walking through it, I was dizzy, and I loved the rush, I didn't have to think you know? I managed to get a few more drinks from this particular bartender and by the time her shift ended I was more wasted than Ryan ever got. It was like finally that stupid voice in the back of my head that made me go crazy thinking about Sharpay shut up. My mind was still on her… but it didn't hurt as much, I pushed through the crowd and finally got to the stage where Travis and Sharpay were hanging out.

**Okay… back to Sharpay's POV**

I was dancing with some random guy… only because he asked me, there was no doubt that he was under aged too so I didn't worry about him being a pedophile or something along those lines. The song ended and the guy asked for my number, and I carefully rejected him (if that's even possible).

"So it looks like you're getting along just fine without him who shall not be named." Travis said once I met up with him.

"This isn't Harry Potter, you can say his name." I said, though it still hurt to think about 'him who shall not be named'.

"But it's fun, can I at least call him Voldemort?" He asked.

"You were a geek in High School weren't you?" I asked.

"That is beside the point… whatever the answer might be." He said, managing to get a smile out of me.

Lying is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have… (Oh come on… I didn't feel like writing the whole title…) by Panic! At the Disco started playing. "Finally, some sanity music." I mumbled and went on stage to grab a water bottle, they gave them out free here probably for the anticipated broke teenagers sneaking in, that way they would get free water instead of pricey drinks. It worked out for me because I wouldn't look under aged… I would just look like I was thirsty and got to the nearest drink.

Travis met up with me and grabbed a bottle for himself. "So you're not a drinker? I'm pretty sure I could hook you up with something at the bar, some of the servers still think I'm twenty three." He offered.

"I don't drink, bad high school experience." I said… not bothering to give the whole explanation.

"What, you drank too much or something?" He asked.

"Something like that." I answered. There was a strange silence for a few seconds. "What about you? Do you drink?" I asked.

Travis scrunched up his face. "No… not ever since my big sister came home drunk when I was seven and puked on my Toy Story bed set. It reeked of beer for weeks."

I laughed. "Well at least for you it only happened once."

"What? You some kind of former serial drinker?" He asked.

I took a sip of my water and shook my head. "No… my mom and brother." I said.

Travis nodded knowing tat I was sending him a 'don't go there' signal. "So… do you want to dance or something? I mean as friends." He added quickly.

"Sure." I shrugged. It wouldn't do any harm now anyways… besides, I was pretty sure that Troy had already left… boy was I wrong.

We were back to techno crappy music now, I tried to ignore it though. It was fun dancing with Travis in that crowded place. It was a little hard to dance in my fitted black mini dress but it was fun getting all the male attention instead of being known at East High as quote: that girl who shops at Hot Topic. As you may have guessed, at East High girls were either preps or popular… I was the one exception.

"Sharpay!" A somewhat slurred voice called after me. I had been through this far too many time to not know what was going on. Troy Bolton, the guy who stuck with me while my mom and brother were at rehab for alcoholism just got drunk… because of our break up. "I can't take this, we need to be together." He said, his voice indicating that he was totally and completely, hospital worthy drunk. He leaned in and tried to his me, when I turned away he stumbled to the ground.

"Get up Troy! What did you do?" I asked, leaning down and pulling him up.

"Sharpay… I love you, I need you." He whispered, I smelled vodka on his breath undeniably.

My stomach lurched at those words, a part of me wanted to tell him tat I loved him back, then another part of me… an over powering part remembered what Gabriella had told me earlier. _'Tr-Troy and me… in the fall… he was drunk… he told me he loved me we-we… I-' _Anger burned inside of me, I reached out and slapped him. He –again- lost his balance and fell to the ground. This time I didn't bother helping him up. "How dare you try the same thing on me as you did on Gabriella?" I demanded.

He scrambled up on his own. "I never did! I love you Sharpay!" He yelled, somehow not attracting attention from the other clubbers. "And I know you love mew too, why were you kissing Travis?"

"Dude, that didn't mean anything." Travis said, defending me.

"Shut up." Troy said, still making a total and complete fool of himself.

"He's right Troy." I said. "Get up, we've got to get you back to the dorms, who brought you here?"

"Chad gave me a ride here… I don't need him, I need you." He made a futile attempt to kiss me but I pushed him away.

"I'll go find Chad." Travis volunteered.

I nodded and gave him a thankful look. I sat Troy down on the edge of the stage. "Troy… why did you drink?" I asked.

"Because I'm a worthless ass hole, okay? You know it, Gabriella knows it, what's the point?" He talked, sounding both pathetic and wasted.

"Don't even try that whole self pity thing, you don't know how many times my mom used that on my dad." I said.

For a second Troy looked like he was fighting to be sober… obviously not successfully but it was sort of nice that he was trying… no. I was angry… he cheated on me… and he deserved to feel this bad… right? I was so confused. "I-I didn't mean to hurt you." He said, his voice still slurred but he sounded like he was making an effort to be serious.

I wanted so badly to be mad at him at that moment… he totally betrayed me. But part of me couldn't… a very, very miniscule part but still, it was enough to make me think. "Well you did." I answered finally.

"Where's Troy?" I heard Chad ask.

"Here." I said standing up.

"Sharpay, you're looking especially slutty tonight." He said crossing his arms.

"You too, Danforth." I said raising my eye brows at him and using the hated last name. "I see you have the whole bride of Frankenstein thing going on."

"Yeah, yeah can we just cut this whole trash talking thing short? My friend needs me." He said.

"Take him, no one wants him here." I snapped… totally untrue but still. I could tell he was that close to slapping me, but he stopped himself and dragged out his friend.

"Are you okay?" Travis asked.

I thought about it. "Yeah… I think I am." I said. I took a long gulp of my water and tried to go back to dancing.

**Chad POV (or at least attempted… I don't really even want to get into his mind)**

I paced the lobby, shivering in the chill of the air conditioning that was set to like, fifty degrees. I looked over the list of emergency contacts, I didn't even know he had one, Sharpay's name was listed first, before his parents, before me. It was weird but I knew I had to do it. I dialed in the unfamiliar number and the phone rang once, twice, three times. _Hi, it's Shar start talking _---the beep came and I sighed, she must have left her cell in the car.

"Um, hi. It's me… Chad. I'm at the St. Nicholas Hospital on 87th street. We were in an accident…" I trailed off remembering the crash.

_Troy! What the hell are you doing?_

_We have to go back!_

_No! We don't! We can't even turn now! There are cars coming!_

_We can make it come on!_

_Troy! Get your hands off the wheel!_

I snapped back to reality. "…the car was totaled, the whole passenger seat side got smothered… Troy was sitting there and…" I trailed off again.

_We have to go back!_

_Why? You heard what she said! She doesn't want you Troy… she hates you._

_You're wrong!_

_Troy… what are you going?_

_We have to go back!_

I squeezed my eyes shut, letting my voice crack on the phone. "… the doctors say that Troy will make it out alive… it's just… he didn't wake up yet."

**DUN! DUN! DUN!!! Okay… no. I was going to add more about the hospital and junk, but I am sort of short on time so yeah… tell me what you think okay? I'll try and update ASAP. I love all you guys reviewing! And no constructive criticism? Or flames? You guys are already waaaay cooler than my creative writing teacher. You guys seriously make my day so thanx!! **

**P.S. I think that it's safe to say that it'll be Ryelsi/ Relsi instead of Ryella cuz of the votes. Thanks voterz! **


	10. Decide Now

**LOL I hated my own cliffy too… but I had to get off the computer and fast cuz of the parental units. Blame them… Okay here we go.**

After about a half an hour of pretending that I wasn't worried about Troy, Travis and I left. He didn't mind… I mean, he was too busy avoiding Clarissa or Melissa or whatever. We split pretty fast and went to my porche (dream car… I know).

"So did you ever get rid of what's her name?" I asked, as I handed my keys to Travis, letting him drive.

"Yeah… if she asks you're a former stripper who is pregnant with triplets who you plan to name Maggie, Bart and Lisa." He informed me before sticking the key into the ignition.

"The Simpsons? Do I look like a Marge to you?" I asked, pretending to be offended.

"I had to think fast okay? And besides, Melinda or whatever never caught on." He said with a laugh.

"Looks like you got off easy… what the heck?" I asked, looking at my sidekick.

"Huh? Let me guess… you got like, ten billion 'I'm sorry! Give me one more chance!' messages from lover boy." Travis said, pulling out of the parking lot.

"No… I mean yeah, I got a bunch of messages… but not from Troy. St. Nicholas hospital… do you know where that is?" I asked.

"Yeah, just a few miles away from here. Why? He asked.

"I keep on getting calls from there." I shrugged. "They're probably just asking for money or something." I said, closing my sidekick. I still felt like there was something wrong, but I shook it off and tried to enjoy my ride home. My sidekick vibrated in my pocket, I pulled it out of my pocket and checked the ID, it was the hospital again. "If they were asking for money they would have given up by now." I said.

"Why don't you jut pick it up and tell them to step off?" Travis suggested.

I shrugged, it was worth a shot. I opened the phone and put it on speaker. "Hello…?" I asked cautiously.

"Sharpay? Thank god you picked up. It's Chad." The blurry voice said.

"Chad? Wait… were you the one calling from the hospital? I was just going to listen to your messages." I asked.

"Whatever. Look, Troy's hurt" He said quickly.

"What?" I asked, almost not comprehending.

"Look, we were in an accident. He wanted to go back to the club, he turned the wheel…" Chad seemed to faze out for a few seconds. "… there was a truck coming on the other side of the road."

"Oh my god." I said, just figuring out what he was getting at. "Is he okay? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine… it's just Troy. His side of the car was totally smashed, the doctors said he wasn't hurt, he just suffered a major concussion and some pretty great trauma to the head." Chad said in a rush.

"You mean like a coma? Why did you call me? Why not his parents?" I asked.

"You were the first person that he wanted to call incase something like this happened." There was a pause. I felt flattered and guilty at the same time. "We called his parents and they're flying in from Albuquerque… They'll only be here by noon though."

"How can we wake him up?" I asked. I completely forgot about the whole being mad at him thing and started silently panicking.

"We've tried everything…apparently we have to tap into his subconscious mind. I tried talking to him, the doctors tried talking to him, his parents tried talking to him over the phone! It's just not working!" He practically yelled into the phone. "He just seemed so… dead." I could here him sigh into the receiver. "Look… can you just get down here?"

"Sure, I'll be there as soon as possible." I said, still with my head spinning. I closed the sidekick.

"So… to St. Nicholas?" Travis asked. Thank god he had chosen to stay quiet for the past few minutes.

"Yeah." I nodded. My mind was moving too fast, I leaned back into my seat.

"You seriously love the guy don't you?" Travis asked.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Listen, I know that I've basically only known you for two days… two very fateful days but I can already tell, dude has it was bad for you." He said. "Look, contrary to popular belief, I only like you as a friend. And if you feel like ranting that your boyfriend is in the hospital I won't mind."

Awkward silence. "I don't know exactly what to do… I mean, he almost died, he still might… and I was the first person he wanted to know if something happened. I just don't know." I paused… another silence. "I'm sorry… it's just weird, talking about this with you."

"I get it." He said, with another silence. "Last year our previous lead guitarist was this girl named Leila Anderson… we had this… thing, you know?" I nodded, not really knowing what he meant. "We were together since junior year when we went to high school in Baltimore. We weren't exactly together, but we both knew that we liked each other."

"Then why didn't you just go for it?" I asked.

Travis shrugged, with both of his hands still on the wheel. "We were waiting for each other to make the first move I guess. We were dong that whole tease thing up until mid last year." Travis tightened his grip on the wheel. "Then we got into a fight… I don't even remember what it was about, the music, or a gig, or one of my dates or one of her's."

"What happened?" I asked, curious to see where this was going.

"We finally found out for sure that we liked each other… only we were just too mad to actually do anything about it." Travis blinked, barely moving his eyes from the road straight ahead of him. "Sh-She was pretty mad at me. She took a drive, to no where in particular. She was on this road that no one ever takes… just because it was too straight, too narrow, too lonely. She was confused and alone and wasn't concentrating on the road." Travis squeezed his eyes shut, but only for a moment. "There was a curve coming up in the road… she didn't turn."

There was a long painful silence. "Wow… I ever would have thought-"

"You can't just let someone go that easily." Travis said, cutting me off. "It isn't that easy, so unless you want to find out the hard way what life is like just wondering how things would have been if they were just a little bit different, you'd better start thinking."

Oh, thanks, that made me feel so much better. And yet… I think that the evil push in the right direction actually somehow helped. I forced myself to sit up straight. "Thanks… but that still doesn't make this decision any easier." I said, crossing my arms.

Travis shrugged. "It wasn't meant to… the point is that you have to make the choice, now, before one of you dies." I turned suddenly and he jumped. "Okay, that came out wrong, but the point is still the same."

"Thanks… I guess." I said. Travis nodded and the rest of the car ride was totally silent, like dead silent, but it actually sort of helped. I mean seriously, I wanted to cry so badly at that moment but I couldn't because I wasn't supposed to care about him. I just didn't know what to do… well, I knew what I wanted to do. Obviously I wanted to be with Troy… but then there was that whole thing with Gabriella, and Travis, and with the drinking… it was all just too confusing.

"We're here." Travis said. Breaking the silence.

I sighed and got out of the car. "Thanks." I said simply. I didn't really know what I was thanking him for in the first place. He was a really nice guy, and I might have just been thanking him for that, or for not ditching me when he found out that I was magnetic to all things dramatic **(A/N Shout out to all you fellow dramatic people!! I know… back to the story now)**.

I went inside and the familiar stench of hospitals came rushing back to me. I knew it all too well. "Hi… I'm here for Troy Bolton…" I said to the nurse.

She looked up. "Hi, and your name is…?"

"Sharpay Evans." I said, holding my arms together in the over blasted hospital air conditioning. I was still wearing my mini dress… I probably looked like some freak in the room with a bunch of families who came for appointments but I didn't care… I was nervous, I don't know why but I was mentally freaking out.

The nurse seemed surprised when she found my name on his emergency contacts list. "Top of the list… you must be very important to him." Thanks… you make me feel so much better. "Room 1103" She said, pointing down a hall way.

I nodded and went in the direction she pointed to… 1105… 1104… room1103. I sighed and took one step closer to the door. Gabriella, Chad, Kelsi and Taylor were already there. Everyone besides Chad were still wearing night clothes. Everybody looked puffy eyed with red cheeks… they had all been crying.

Oh my god Sharpay, thank god you're here." Gabriella said, bursting into tears… probably for like, the tenth time. But this time I wasn't judging her… I couldn't be judging her, I was pretty sure that I was feeling just about the same way… only a million times worse.

"Let her go into the room… maybe she can wake Troy up." Chad said.

Let me guess… no pressure? I sensed this wasn't the time for sarcasm and went into the room. All of a sudden my whole perspective changed… it was his face I think… his grimacing expression that made it clear that he wasn't resting… it was like he was having a horrible night mare. I bent over by his bed. "Hi… I guess you really can't hear me, but every one is here, we all really need you." I didn't know what to say… according to the doctors when you talk… he hears you, you just have to say something powerful enough to wake him up… and that wasn't it. "Your parents are flying in. They're really worried about you." I shut my eyes, trying to stop the tears. I was damn glad that he couldn't see me now, I was so pathetic, so vulnerable. And I hated it… but I loved him. "We… I really, really need you to wake up." I said, standing at his side. I thought about what Travis said… this was horrible. "Look, I'm sorry that I was being such and incredible jerk, I should have trusted you when you said that Gabriella and you are just friends… I mean, look where that got us now." I tried controlling myself… but then I just stopped, tears flowed down my face and I was crying like there was no tomorrow. "I love you." I admitted… only half hoping that he could hear me. "And I want us to be together." I said… making my decision… now it was up to him… how much did he want to wake up?

**Wow… I feel like I'm writing a soap opera… is that a good thing? Cuz for me it's just weird…. like mentioning Panic! At he Disco on Hannah Montana weird (which Jackson did… I think) I'll try to update soon… I think I can because I just got a few new resources so yeah… I want to bring Shar's mom back in… I know she's been totally non existent for a while but I think she'll be back. So just tell me what you think of my soapy chapter okay? Wow... I just realized that in the summary I spelled process wrong... I am so dumb lol**

** P.S Do you guys think I should let Troy wake up like... immediately or should I wait a while... as an author not a reader give me advice okay? I hate having to keep them apart... I always feel like I should just make then kiss and make up and be done with it... but I can't... because I suck at fluff... bummer.  
**


	11. Built for Disapointment

**LOL thanks for reviewing guys! I got a lot of soap opera references which I can totally understand why I got… it's funny, I'm usually the one making fun of soaps… no offence to soap opera fans… mainly because if I'm flipping through channels and I come across a soap opera in the middle of a show, it just seems so over dramatic… probably cuz I don't know the whole story. Except for Degrassi, I looove Degrassi, does that count as a soap? Probably yeah because I'm like, never satisfied with the endings. Okay… I'll stop now before I start losing readers. Enjoy…**

I sat in the chair inside Troy's room, extremely tired. It was ten a.m. and I was extremely tired. I had changed into jeans and a T-shirt and was still waiting for him to wake up. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know what to do. I mean… I figured that he probably didn't hear me when I was given one on one time with him and I had given up on the whole 'try to wake him up' thing, that only work in the movies any where.

"How is he doing?" Chad asked.

I shrugged. "The same way he has been doing."

Chad nodded… I wasn't used to serious Chad, idiot Chad, funny Chad, pushy Chad, and Angry Chad were all things I had seen multiple times before. "I brought coffee." He offered.

I smiled… the perfect peace offering. "Thanks." I said simply. I got up and took the cup. It was my fourth one today, the hospital for some reason felt the need to supply good coffee… now I see why. "So how is everyone else doing?" I asked. They had all bailed at the chance to sit in his room and wait… they couldn't handle it or whatever.

Chad forced a small smile. "Gabriella and Taylor are researching psychological ways to wake someone up. Kelsi is writing something… and Ryan is hiding from Gabriella behind Kelsi." Chad said.

I smiled. I knew that Ryan couldn't handle being someone's semi-boyfriend for too long. "That's actually pretty cute… and clichéd, can you say to friends hooking up while one of their friends are in the hospital?" I said, still weakly.

Chad smiled too. "Yeah… they do seem to have this little flirt system worked out… like ask what are you writing, and she say nothing.-" I cut him off with a raised eye brow. "Never mind."

"Thank you." I said, taking a sip of my coffee. "Any word from Troy's parents?" I asked.

"I'm apparently a toxic influence." Chad said, with the slightest hint of a laugh. "They're also going to be here soon, maybe forty five minutes or so, they managed to pull an early flight and are on their way here."

"That's good." I said. "What did they say about their sin getting drunk, turning the wheel of a car and hitting a truck?"

"Well, both the guy in the truck and I agreed not to press charges and Troy's parents are going to pay for the damage to the rental." Chad said. "I don't think he's going to get grounded or anything… this is bad enough."

"Wow…" Was all I could say, I mean, at this point wow was the all purpose answer, it didn't have to make sense, we all knew what we meant anyways. I took a few much needed huge gulps of coffee.

"When they get here they want us to get back to school." He said.

"Great… my first day of college and my ex is in the hospital with a coma." I said… this was just so, so typical. "I think I'm going to need more coffee." I said, unable to handle sitting in he room any longer.

Chad grabbed my arm before I could leave "Look… I can't help feeling like this whole thing I my fault." He said, almost in a whisper.

I looked up at him… he seemed totally genuinely guilty. "It wasn't your fault… if anything it was mine, I as the one who blew the whole Gabriella thing out of proportion."

"You didn't… and he knew it, he just didn't know how to talk to you about it… and I didn't let him." Chad said guiltily. "It's just, I was the one who saw you with Travis… doing nothing and turned it into something, then I was the one who dragged him to the club where he got drunk, then I was the one who didn't manage to keep control of the wheel when he tried to turn the car back…" I looked up and Chad's face, and I swear, he was like… almost crying, his lip was quivering, he was blinking hard and taking short breaths.

I'd never thought that I'd be sitting in a room, talking with my worst enemy who was on the verge of tears because his best friend, a.k.a my ex boyfriend, a.k.a the love of my life, is stuck in a coma after a car accident that he got into because he was trying to get Chad to turn around and get back into the club we snuck into just so he could try to get me to forgive him. Heck, I'd never have thought that Troy Bolton would be a part of my life at all. Ina way it was a blessing like I loved being with him, but I wasn't used to being so… connected to a person that when they were in the hospital, I felt like I was losing my life. It sucked.

"I can't believe he's gone." I whispered.

"He's not gone… he's going to wake up any minute now." Chad said, sounding like he thought saying it would make it true.

"Oh come on Chad! Look, I've been here before… a lot of times, hospitals are built for let downs, they always happen here…. especially to me." I sad… the long hours and stress was finally getting to me.

Chad didn't want to believe it, he shook his head franticly. "N-no… that he is going to wake up… and everything is going to go right back to normal.'

"He's practically a vegetable already, all someone has to do is pull the plug." I said bitterly, I must have been having some sort of a panic attack… because I started laughing like an idiot.

"Would you just shut the fuck up!? Just because you don't care about Troy doesn't mean that he isn't…" That was the last thing I heard… I guess my hysteria got the best of me, because I just blacked out…

I woke up to a face that was all too familiar, I wasn't smart enough to make an emergency contact list so the hospital scanned for the nearest relative… remember who that was? No… not Ryan. My 'mother'. "So Pay, are you feeling better?" She asked.

I sat up, I had changed into one of those hospital outfits and I was lying in an empty room alone with my mother. I touched the back of my head and winced, it hurt like hell. "Don't ever call me Pay again." I said through the pain.

My mother just gave me a smirk. "Hurts, doesn't it? Minor concussion, you fainted and your head hit a table, you needed a few stitches too." She said. I got out of the bed, feeling extremely dizzy and almost taking a full on nose dive. "There's a bathroom through that door, I brought you some new clothes, I tried to stick to your whole, gross, boy clothe style. You're still an extra small right?"

"I didn't think you'd notice." I said, and picked up the bag she handed me. I didn't care who gave me the clothes, I needed something new to where.

I heard her shrill, hollow laugh. "I guessed, not all of us can be model thin a drop dead gorgeous like you, we don't all have it quite as easy."

"So that's your excuse for sleeping with every bum that looks the least bit rich" said, not even turning around.

She walked up behind me and grabbed me by the shoulder, roughly turning me around. "Never talk to your mother that way again, you understand?"

"Sure… tell me when you find her." I said angrily and proceeded to the bathroom.

"Funny… Ryan seemed to take to me rather well. Yesterday when he was all heart broken, he didn't o to you… or to that Kelsi girl. He came to me. And we… reconnected over some old bonds." She said.

She was practically telling me that they were drinking. I didn't want to deal with this now… I decided to shower first then question Ryan, The hot water felt really good, and the hospital shampoo wasn't bad. My mom picked out a denim micro mini and black leggings with tight dark blue tank top. Without my usual straightening iron, my hair formed into its natural waves, the clothes were comfortable enough, and I guess I looked fine. At least it went with the converse low tops that I was originally wearing.

I stalked out of the room, my 'mom' already left to go somewhere, I decided that now would be a good time to confront Ryan. At least I was in the same hospital wing that everyone was hanging out in, so I really didn't have a problem finding Ryan, he was busy fawning over Kelsi, at this moment I didn't really bother to worry about crushing their young love. I just pulled Ryan away by the hand and Kelsi got the point.

Ryan looked annoyed "Sharpay! I was like, that close to asking Kelsi out-"

"Yeah… cute, whatever. Why were you with Tina yesterday?" I asked.

"Tina? You mean mom? How did you… never mind, we were just talking and all!" I could tell that Ryan was panicking.

"Really? Because I heard that you were quite heart broken over Gabriella, how are you all of a sudden flirting with Kelsi? Did you get some extra help from your old friend Mr. Heineken?" I asked angrily.

"Look, she offered me some and I left, you have got to believe me." He said in a whisper.

I crossed my arms. "I-I don't think I can." I said shakily.

Ryan looked at me like I just betrayed him. "Fine… if you insist on not believing me I'll go talk to someone who does."

I was having the worst day ever… and it was only two p.m.

**Grrrr… I hate not letting Troy wake up, it sucks… but sadly, I made yet another chapter with out him… sad, very sad. Okay… I brought evil Tina back in, I don't like her at all she's like, a total politician... okay, thanks for reading... tell me what you think okay? I'll try to update soon.**


	12. What if I Could Escape?

I was alone… again, and it wasn't a good feeling, after willingly tearing down all of the wall that I had ever known, then being forced to live without them after everything that I put trust in screwed me over was not how I imagined being hazed into college.

My mother went somewhere that I wasn't aware of, probably plotting another way to ruin my life. At least she wasn't here. And Ryan was all mad at me because I had the totally far off idea that he (a still recovering alcoholic) took a drink when his mother offered him one. Sue me for being the least bit suspicious. I took my car back to campus, Travis told me we could only ditch until like, an hour ago, I did have a legit excuse but I was still getting a classic 'Legally Blonde' start to freshman year.

I got to campus and got my books. I luckily had my schedule at hand and rushed to my first class, of the day, which was stage presence… I couldn't that believe I had a whole class just on stage presence. I think I had the whole thing down, no leaking emotions, always staying in character, and leaning no indication that I was currently going through an emotional twister. I looked through the little window in the door and there was no sign of a professor so I entered, it was in one of the theatres. A bunch of students were sitting on bleachers on the stage. There was a clipboard up front with everyone's names where they were sitting, I noticed my name in the fifth row. I took the seat where my name was assigned and looked around, this was confusing.

The girl next to me passed me a note. "From him." She whispered, pointing to Travis who was sitting three rows behind me.

I grabbed a pen out of my bag and quickly scrawled a note across the paper.

_Passing notes? Isn't that just a little bit high schoolish? Where is the prof? Am I dead?_

I passed the note behind me instinctively, I was used to this sort of thing. I looked behind me and saw Travis smile at my comment. A moment later I got a reply. _High schoolish? Maybe a little, w/e. Prof. Rowland went to her office to get her laptop, I covered for you, just pretend like you were here the whole time._

_Thanks, btw, what are you doing in stage presence?_

_FYI I'm a closet actor, was in every one of my high school plays… if u tell the guys you're dead. On a more important note, how's it going down at general hospital? _

I paused, trying o figure out how to answer that._ No progress, I sort of fainted for a few hours, but no big. I'll fill u in l8r _

I passed he note back and looked at the front of the class, trying to maintain the bored look that everyone else had on. I sat quietly until the teacher came in. She was a forty-something dancer type. She didn't notice me and I didn't make a scene, the only thing that happened in class was Professor Rowland giving us a long dramatic lecture on stage presence. I left quickly and no one ratted me out, I was liking college so far, but it still didn't help my mental state.

"So, how's it going? I missed the first ten minutes of the show and now I'm totally out of the loop." Travis said, running up behind me.

"Well, Troy's parents are at the hospital, I'm pretty sure he's still alive." I said, trying not to give myself away.

Travis bent over, trying to whisper something to me and walk at he same time. "Did you think about what I said earlier?"

"Yes." I said quickly, trying not to get into a huge conversation.

"And…?" He asked. I knew where this was going.

I sighed. "Look, you were right okay? But love doesn't wake people up from comas. I tried, I guess this was a sign or something. He'd be better off with Gabriella anyways, at least they'd know that nothing like this would ever happen." I said, trying unsuccessfully to sound casual. My voice ended up cracking, and I sounded like I was going to cry or something. So much for not giving myself away…

Travis looked ticked. "Listen, you can't just give up on this. You may think you can get over it, but you can't."

"Excuse me but you sound like Gabriella when she's watching lifetime movies. And I just can't take this advice seriously coming from you." I said defensively.

"Will you just stop and think for a second? Get over yourself already! Look, I don't even know the guy, but according to what Chad said he's a pretty straight up guy. Would he seriously get drunk over just some girl?" He asked, sounding seriously defensive.

"How would you know anything about this? You've only known us for what? Three days? That's barely enough time to memorize our last names. You can't just pretend like you know everything about this stupid fight." I snapped.

"Look, your love life is pretty much a hot topic in our dorm so just listen okay? I don't know everything about your relationship or whatever but I do know that Troy had a crush on you since he was like, five. Do you seriously just want to throw that away?" He asked.

Okay, I know it sounds cheesy, but I was actually choking back tears at this point. "I don't-" I started, I reconsidered what I was about to admit and opted to change my answer. "-have time for this right now. I've got to get to my next class." I said and walked away… funny how conversations can take such evil turns so fast.

The rest of my classes had basically the same anatomy. I didn't pay attention and they didn't notice. I never really stressed over stuff, but I found it really hard to believe that this was what I was freaking out over for the past four months… it was just so strange, the educational factor was not as nerve wracking as the out side world. So much for the hype…

I went to my dorm… yes, technically it was still my dorm, even after all of this. I only went there because of lack of better place to go… I mean, I didn't want to go back to the hospital with all those people who act just about as comatose as Troy really is. Gabriella would probably say that I was in denial, which I very well might have been… but at a time like this I didn't want to sit and watch it happen, I wanted to escape. Just then, a thought crossed my mind. What if I could escape? (A/N Gwen Stefani reference unintended) I thought back to the summer…

_I walked outside my house with Troy and Ryan, we were all watching movies inside and came out to meet the rest of he guys._

"_Sharpay… looks like you've got mail." Ryan said, trying to imitate the annoying AOL voice. "From Julliard, keep your fingers crossed." Ryan said excitedly._

"_I didn't know you applied there." Troy said, he hated being out of the loop, I found it cute._

"_I didn't… Ryan, what exactly did you do?" I asked turning to my brother, who was already opening the envelope._

"_YOU GOT IN!" Ryan yelled._

"_Oh… my… god. I GOT INTO JULLIRD!" I screamed, letting go of the fact that I didn't even apply. I jumped around the driveway and hugged Troy, I mean, when you thought performing arts school, what did you think of first? Julliard! And they wanted me! _

"_On scholarship too… see?" Ryan said, pointing to the piece of paper. He didn't lie. "I can't believe my sister is going to Julliard!"_

_I was so extremely excited that I over looked one fact. "Wait… I can't go to Julliard, that's like, across the country from you guys." I said._

"_No… we'll somehow survive without you." Troy said, not quite sounding all that happy._

"_Really Shar, it's Julliard we're talking about! I mean, it's your dream school! How can you not go?" Ryan said excitedly. Why did he have to be so supportive? If he wasn't it would make it so much easier to decide._

"_Like this… I'm tuning the down, you guys are way more important too me." I said._

_Ryan looked surprised. "Sharpay… I sent in an application for you, hoping that just maybe they'd see that you're good enough to go there. They did! You can't just turn them do-"_

"_Yes I can… now can we just drop it?" I asked. I knew hat I wanted to go to college with them, but it was just so weird turning down the place that I had been dreaming about for all my life._

A month later I got another letter… this time it was from the woman who offered me a scholarship to Julliard, Katherine Graham by that time the whole 'I can't believe I'm not going to Julliard' factor had worn off.

'_I was rather surprised and disappointed that you chose not to go to Julliard, but I may assure you that as long as I am an active contributor, the doors of Julliard will always be opened to you_.' At first I didn't know what to make of it. This was all just a little bit strange. I mean, was I really good enough to be fought for even after I turned them down? I had never really thought about leaving and going to Julliard… I mean, I never really considered it a possibility. But now? I had nothing going for me here… t was still early in the year… could I really transfer? I guess now I really, really had to think about it.

Maybe leaving would be good for me… I mean, it was obvious that my boyfriend wouldn't be waking up any time soon. My brother hated me, and everyone else would survive without me… the far off crazy idea was starting to sound better and better. I got off my bed and opened one of my bags, I had to dig to the very bottom until I found it, I put it in the same folder as all my college applications so no one would be suspicious, no one else really knew about me getting accepted except for Troy and Ryan so if anyone saw it they would get really confused. It was the letter from Katherine Graham. I pulled it out of my bag and skipped down to the bottom.

'_If you ever decide to attend Julliard, come my way_

_555-374-0959_'

I looked at the phone number, memorizing it in my head. I was going to call, but first I had to go somewhere.

**Okay… this is about all I can take, my story just isn't the same without Troy****. I am sooo pathetic. Okay, so anyways, I'm sorry this chapter sort of sucks but I just wanted to update so I could get to next chapter, I hope you guys like it though. Tell me what you think, okay? I'm having an insane writer's block... and just when I'm getting to the end… how pathetic. Okay, so I'll try to update soon.**


	13. Goodbye

I parked my car in the all too familiar parking lot. The hospital was apparently the new after school hang out ever since Troy went in, so I knew where to find everyone. The nurse didn't bother asking who I was looking for, she had memorized me ass the girl who had been going back and forth for coffee all night last night, only minus the mini dress. I gave her a quick smile as I passed by, she knew I had somewhere important to go.

I got to the room, where as I suspected, all of the guys were hanging out, all looking just as drained and tired as they did last night. "How's he doing?" I asked cautiously, I didn't really know if I wanted to hear the answer.

Chad lifted his head quickly, as I he was startled by my voice. I guess the whole sleep deprivation thing finally go to him. He was slouching on the room couch next to Taylor and Gabriella. "Huh? Oh… his parents couldn't wake him up... he's hanging in there though." Chad said bluntly.

I nodded, suddenly rethinking my decision. Maybe Julliard wasn't all it was cut out to be. "I was thinking…" I started. I couldn't go on though.

"What? Any good news?" Gabriella asked, seeming totally depressed, not at all like the Gabriella I knew.

"I don't know…" I said, and it was true, all of a sudden my fool proof plan started to crumble… I ignored the voice screaming in the back of my head, I had to leave, I needed to leave. At least that's what I repeated to myself in my head in a sad, sad attempt to convince myself that my mind was made up. "But I think I'm going to be leaving LA." I said… still not completely sure.

Chad's eyes widened. "What? You're leaving? Don't tell me that you're going back to Albuquerque… are you? Is this because of your mother? Or was it me? Sharpay you ca-"

"Chad, chill." I said. It somewhat worked. Chad waited for an explanation. "I got accepted into Julliard… and I chose not to go because I wanted to go here… with you guys. Since all of this happened… I think it would be good for me to go somewhere else, and the offer into Julliard is still standing, I think it's the best place for me."

Chad still looked seriously disturbed. "Sharpay… what about Troy?" He dared to ask.

I thought about that for a second, how could I answer to something like that? I sighed. "He's better off without me anyways, what can I say? I'm nothing but trouble." I said, attempting sarcasm.

"Sharpay, this is sooo not the time." Gabriella said standing up. "Listen, I know you don't want to hear this from me, but he needs you, and if he wakes up and you're gone he will never get over you."

"That's assuming he will wake up." I said, I didn't mean to say it, it just slipped out, all I knew that it was definitely the wrong thing to say at this moment.

Chad looked extremely offended, but at the same time it looked like he was about to cry. "Are you serious? Is he really that meaningless to you that you can just leave and not think twice about him? Is he that worthless to you that you don't seem at all fazed at the thought of him dying?"

Gabriella (for some unknown reason) came to my defense. "Chad, calm down. I don't think she meant it that way." She said slowly, in a futile attempt to chill Chad out.

"No, I think she did." Chad said. "I can't believe you… he tries everything to be with you and all you do is leave when it looks like he can't be with you anymore? You know what? Leave, just leave, because he deserves so much better than you." Chad yelled in my face.

All of a sudden I felt like my mother… being the cause of everyone's pain… getting everybody into trouble… everything, right down to causing a teenager to drink. And being her daughter, you probably will never know how bad that feels. "You know what? You're right… I've got to go make a call." I said quietly.

Chad all of a sudden looked extremely guilty. "Sharpay… I didn't mean it like it came out-"

"Yes you did Chad. Don't worry, I understand." I said… my voice cracked horribly and I found myself blinking back tears. I felt so pathetic at that moment… I never cried, it was like one of those things that I was seemingly completely incapable of doing. Okay… I cried a lot during senior year, but given the circumstances I think they would be counted as exceptions. "I've… got to go." I said, running out the door. At this moment I hated myself so much. I had to get out of there.

**XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

I walked down the airport terminal with my carry on bag, ready to get on my flight. I was alone… as I was for the past five days. The phone call to Katherine Graham wasn't quite as excruciating as I expected, she didn't ask any questions and she helped me with my transfer. The band didn't completely hate me, in fact they were actually pretty supportive, I swapped email addresses and we all agreed to keep in touch. Travis said to send him all the songs that were inspired by this whole experience to use for the band, so in wild, distorted way I was still part of the band. Ryan confronted me and let me know that he wasn't drinking, and that he hoped that we could be civil, I told him that I believed him and that me leaving had nothing to do with our problems, we weren't fighting but it was still really awkward. And all of the rest guys didn't really talk to me at all, I mean, they knew I was leaving and all that, but they didn't really talk to me about it, I stayed in a near by hotel for a few days and then I was off.

'_The three forty five flight to New York City will being taking off momentarily, all boarding please proceed to terminal C' _

I sighed, I guess this was it. I picked up a pack of gum, a muffin, and a few magazines from the venders and headed to the terminals, I finally got to the terminal and dug around in my bag for like, ten minutes before I found my passport and ticket, leaving California was definitely more depressing than when I was entering. I made it onto the plane, rethinking every step I took, I couldn't believe I was actually leaving… this totally sucked, but it wasn't as if I had a choice… I mean, I could tell when I was unwanted, and I was definitely unwanted.

I got to my seat, not first class but still moderately comfortably. It didn't really matter anyways, it wasn't like the two inches of extra seat space would make me feel any more comfortable. I tried sleeping but it really didn't work out that well. I was still really confused about what I was doing, and thinking about Troy all the way across the country was not really my definition of fun, but there was nothing I could do about it… I wasn't liking this at all.

I got to New York in one piece, and as soon as I got to my hotel I crashed. It was a five star type place and I was dead tired. I some how got to sleep without thinking about Troy at all, Chad was wrong when he said I didn't care, I just didn't carry around false hopes like everyone else. It seriously sucked that I couldn't stop thinking about him… I loved him, and I never denied that. I was just that I had to get over him, and running away to New York, New York just seemed the best way at the time. I eventually woke up at around noon the next day. New York was actually pretty cold, so instead of wearing my California micro minis and cropped tops, I opted with a pair of boot cut jeans, a black sweater that went half way down my thighs, black stiletto boots and a Dolce & Gobbona purse. I totally blended in with the whole New York scenery, since my car was only coming in a week from them, I got to take a cab, I decided to have a cappuccino then take a stroll down Broadway… just so I could say that I did. I looked at all the posters, RENT, Les Miserables (sp?), Grease, Hairspray, Chicago, Wicked…heaven for a musical freak like me (I know that it's somewhat weird that the high school outcast with a broken home is a total musical fanatic).

And then I saw it… it was a sign (no, literally a sign, as in a poster) **AUDITIONS, THURSDAY, 12:00-5:45 **okay… sure there was a lot of fine print and junk but the point got across loud and clear, I was going to be on Broadway.

**Okay… this was a total rip off chapter but what ever… I'm pretty sure that there'll be a time skip next chapter so be warned. I might be able to get the next one up pretty soon… considering I'm already like, half way done with it… so just read and review, okay?**

**  
P.S. And if there is a time skip, should I bring Troy back? **


	14. I Did Not Run Away

I quickly parked my car… my contemporary dance class at Julliard ran late and I was like, two minutes away from losing my part to my understudy. I ran up the steps to the theatre, after two months I still couldn't believe that I was in the cast for a Broadway musical. I was the lead (and title character) in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita. I was completely flattered by this for two main reasons… a) I was a freshman doing Julliard part time and scoring the lead in a Broadway musical wasn't exactly how I pictured my first semester b) on the movie version (which I had seen a zillion times) my part was played my Madonna… doesn't that just say it all? I know this all seems utterly unrealistic, but I was seriously this smash hit in New York. I mean, I won't lie I loved seeing my pictures everywhere and little girls were asking for my autograph and all, I liked it here, and I as doing well. I'm not saying that that I didn't think about everything going on back with the guys, and it wasn't like I totally ignored what was going on back in LA, I mean, Travis and Ryan both frequently emailed me. Ryelsi was doing great… still not an official item but close enough, and the band was in what they called a 'creative period' where all they did was write, it was apparently just a stage of making it big.

Okay, so anyways I was running late. I went inside, quickly showed my stage pass and rushed inside. As I had hoped, they were working on the first scene… I wasn't in it. "Oh Sharpay! Thank god you're here!" Kenney, the costumer sad, pushing me backstage.

I stumbled to keep up with the guy pulling me backstage. "I am so sorry, Galloway was totally flipping out because some guy in the class had a problem with he front step, pivot step, out kick repeat combo, we had to stay for like, a half an hour longer-"

"No need to explain, you're here now. I just got the alterations done on your dresses, just try it on before it's too late." Kenney said, hurriedly going through the Racks of clothing until he found the dress he was looking for, he handed it to me and rushed me into my dressing room.

"You do realize that the show starts in like, eight hours, right?" I asked.

"Hun, you do not have any idea just how many dancers will come to me with stupid wardrobe malfunctions, just because you're the star does not mean that you can take up all my time." Kenney said frantically, looking down at his watch. "See? You already have me running behind schedule, got to go make sure the blood stains on the injured bodies stayed intact through dry cleaning. Love you, kiss kiss, buh-bye now hun." He said, slamming the door.

I rolled my eyes, that was just Kenney being Kenney, nothing out of the ordinary. My dress fitted perfect, it looked extravagant and totally pricey. It was a gold color with a darting V neck. I thought I looked weird, mainly because I felt so out of character, everyone else said I looked good though, so I wore it. It was a small price to pay for Broadway stardom, so I went with it, it was really no bid deal anyways.

"You're up in five!" Evelyn, the stage manager yelled outside my door.

"Roger that." I said jokingly. I changed into my practice outfit (usually a thick, heavy skirt a blouse and pumps, since we didn't want to get the actual clothes messed up) and ran out the door. Practice was really nothing special, just the usual lines, songs, mess ups, laughs, lectures, all that stuff, but nothing particularly significant, unless you count Jeremy (aka the Juan Parone to my Eva) hitting on me (again) significant.

"Maybe we could get some coffee before the show starts, it just might make the front page of the New York Times." He said cockily.

I rolled my eyes. This happened frequently… very frequently actually. "Sorry, but I can only have _chilled_ beverages before I hit the stage, if I don't it totally throws of my performance quality." I said, trying to sound as sincere as possible.

"I completely understand, I'd hate it if my fans heard my voice after glugging down coffee, it would be totally miserable." He said. Funny… for a trained professional actor it was sort of strange that he didn't pick up on the obvious sarcasm.

"Yeah, sure… did you know that they're starting the competition for Elite magazine's bachelor of the year down at Time Square in twenty minutes?" I asked.

"Well I'd better be going then… I'll see you back here." He said with a wink.

I was pretty much disgusted. I scrunched up my face and watched him run after a departing cab. "Jeremy the hottie creep got you bugging again?" Liza, one of the back ground dancers asked with a mocking smile. Liza was my best friend in New York, I actually liked her just because of her name, you know, Liza, as in Liza Minnelli? As in the Goddess of Broadway? Anyways, Liza was more of a director, but this was just biding her time until someone recognized her genius.

"Yeah, tank god he's so easy to ditch… you up for Starbucks?" I asked.

"Am I ever not?" She asked.

I shrugged. "Very true." I said with a laugh.

"Come on, according to traffic we'd be better off walking." She said. She was right, it was only a few blocks away anyways. "Besides, that gives you enough time to explain why the superstar drama babe is going through such a total and complete dry spell, and don't say anything about your career, considering that your career allows you to take a midday Starbucks break."

I huffed. She always wanted to know this, I pretty much kept the whole my-boyfriend-is-in a-coma-and-all-my-friends-turned-on-me thing to myself. Sue me for not wanting to be written off as little orphan Annie in New York… that would just be all to cliché. "There is no dry spell, I just haven't seen anyone worth while." I shrugged.

"Sure… I'll settle for that for now, but trust me, I'll find out what you're hiding." She said dramatically.

"Chill double O nothing, we're here, now shut up before I make you pay for your own coffee." I threatened.

"You know I'm broke Pay." She said, pushing through the doors into Starbucks, letting out the sweet smell of freshly brewed coffee.

"Last time I checked she hated it when people called her Pay." A voice said from behind.

I didn't bother turning around, for some reason a magazine took interest in me and I'd ever since been recognized by random people claiming to know all about me. "Look, I most likely have no clue who the heck you are so I'll just clue you in now, bothering me before I get my coffee is a little known form of suicide."

The 'stalker' handed me a cup. "Decaf caramel vanilla frappucinno with extra whipped cream still your fave?" I looked up and stepped back.

"Whoa… dude knows your coffee… who is he?" Liza asked.

"Hi, I'm Troy. Sharpay's formerly comatose boyfriend." He said.

"Wait… you're joking right?" Liza asked, turning to me. I was still in shock, I didn't move, which was probably just as good as saying yes. "No flippin way… I knew that there was some dark secret."

"You mean she didn't tell you?" He asked, even though he was looking at me. I couldn't deny it, Troy Bolton was standing right on front of me… and he wasn't dead. He got a serious hair cut but he was still Troy. He took a daring step closer to me and a moved back quickly. "What? Are you afraid of me now? Seriously Shar, I wake up and all of a sudden I'm nonexistent?"

"No, you're just not supposed to be here… not now." I said. "Liza, get your coffee." I said, handing her my credit card.

"Why do I always have to miss the good stuff?" She asked, but took the card none the less, she knew I would spill later.

"So…what exactly did you mean by not supposed to be here?" He asked.

"You got out of a freaking coma, and I had to find out this way?" I asked.

"Look, I told the guys not to tell, I wanted it to be a surprise." He said, obviously not getting the hugeness of this situation.

"A surprise? Troy! You woke up from a damn coma! If you wanted to surprise me at least emphasize the fact that you're not on your death bed first!" I said loudly, I never pictured myself making a scene on front of the local Starbucks.

Troy looked like was going to laugh. "My death bed? Shar, I wasn't going to die."

"Would you please just stop calling me that?" I asked.

Troy looked disturbed. "I thought you'd be excited… I thought you'd be happy that I'm awake, I mean after you ran away to New York-"

"I did not run away." I said defensively. "Look… I'm going to have to think… a lot."

"I understand… I'll be at the show tonight." He said, as if that as supposed to help, now I'd probably mess up.

I nodded. "I… have to go."

"Wait, do you want your coffee?" he asked.

"I think I just lost my appetite." I said, backing away and bumping into Liza.

"What did I miss?" Liza asked leaving Starbucks with a bag, I should've known better than leaving her with my credit card. "I bought scones."

"Come on… we'd better get back and rehearse." I said, pulling Liza away from the whole scene going down. This was just all too confusing.

**Okay, I feel like I haven't updated in forever, if anything blame suburban parents and harsh punishments, but at least I'm updating now... at 2:30 am. But still well, there was a time skip and I know the whole star on Broadway thing is unrealistic but just go with it okay? Next chapter will be up soon, mainly cuz it's already been written, but I have to find a more convenient time to sneak onto the internet, so bear with me okay?  
**


	15. Blue Roses

**Okay, so I have been having a pretty busy week since my family is planning some giant family reunion at Wisconsin Dells (a long road trip in an overheated minivan with my parents and four year old little brother... fun.) So for a week in august (I have no clue which one) I'll be out of town and won't have access to the internet, but I'll still be writing. And If I'm lucky the hotel will have internet access. But I'll probably be busy having family fun. Note the sarcasm. Okay... maybe its best that I let you guys read the story now before this turns into a full on rant. Enjoy...**

I wiped off my makeup backstage, I had a good show tonight. I hit the high notes without a problem and I totally had the part of a high powered, famous and yet totally vain woman down. Troy was in the audience… but no where near the front, and even if he was, the stage lights stopped me from noticing exactly where he was. I changed into my jeans, and a camo tank top. Not quite the fanciest outfit but something comfortable to wear on my way home.

"Yo! Pay! Your stalker sent you roses… okay well, blue roses but romantic none the less!" Liza said, running up to me with a bouquet of (blue) roses.

I got excited and yet at the same time totally torn, I knew who they were from… I smirked, same old Troy.

_I walked into my dressing room. It was senior year, only ten minutes after the spring production of Grease. It was honestly one of the worst performances ever, Troy and both scored the lead roles… only Troy twisted his ankle in basketball right before, Chad made a pretty good Danny (even though I can still taste his hair…) but it was still wasn't the same without Troy. _

_I was about to release myself from the stupid black jump suite when I saw a bouquet of blue roses… my first thought was who the heck would get me blue roses? I opened the card._

_Dear Sharpay,  
Sorry I missed the play, no doubt you rocked though.  
Blame my dad and that stupid fake right break left combo.  
I'm sure I won't be the only one giving you roses but I hope these stand out.  
I have no clue what blue roses symbolize but they're unique, energetic, and all together dazzling.  
Plus I'm pretty sure you'd laugh if I sent red roses.  
I love you,  
Troy_

_I smiled at the note, how could I not? He was the best boyfriend ever. Cute, smart, funny, and perfect… even when he was hospitalized. And yet, he didn't annoy the hell out of me like practically everyone else at East High. I loved him... a lot. And I hated that he couldn't be there, but somehow blue roses made all the difference._

I snapped back to reality. Warm fuzzy memories didn't make this any less confusing.

"So are they from freaky coma dude?" Liza asked. "Because if the blue roses were some high school romance inside joke type thing then that would explain so much."

"Yeah... freaky coma dude." I said, still not able to concentrate.

"Well, nothing says 'hey! Remember me? That dude you ditched in California' like muffins." Liza said, handing me a basket.

"He sprung for a muffin basket?" I asked, picking one out of the basket.

Liza pulled it out of my hands and took a bite. "Worse… home made." She said with her mouth full (It really sounded more like 'worsh hommad' though).

"He knows Zeke's banana chocolate chip muffins are my weakness." I said guiltily… he was really trying hard.

"He knows your weakness? I didn't even know you had one." Liza said, taking another bite.

"You mean besides starbucks? Yeah, that's just about it." I said, in a pointless attempt to change the subject.

Liza rolled her eyes and swallowed the chunk of muffin (not even bothering to chew) "So was there a card?" She asked, totally ignoring the starbucks comment.

"Oh please, it's not like you haven't already opened it and read it." I joked, still trying to pull attention away from Troy.

"That is not true… in this particular instance." Liza said with a smile.

I rolled my eyes, typical Liza. I ignored her and pulled the card out and read it.

_Dear Shar,  
I still have no clue what blue roses mean but they still remind me of you.  
Just so you know, I only woke up a week ago.  
My parents told me that you left and I seriously felt like going back into a coma.  
Chad tried to stop me from coming, but things just weren't the same at home.  
Don't worry, I don't plan on staying long, I just wanted to see you.  
Love,  
Troy  
P.S. Are the muffins working? I emailed Zeke for the recipe, it took a few tries but I got it.  
P.P.S. Zeke wants to know if I used to many chocolate chips._

Stupid considerate Troy… why did he always have to make it so hard to ignore him? "Hello… Pay? What does it say?" Liza asked.

I thought fast… I couldn't say all of that. "Um… just that I was great and that he hopes that I'll visit him and all the guys on a long weekend or something."

"I'm not stupid. What does it really say?" Liza asked.

Unable to read it out loud, I handed her the little card. She was like, my best friend, and I just felt guilty reading it, I think it was best that she got the whole story now at least. "Laugh at me all you want, just don't go all psycho soap opera fanatic on me, okay?"

"Dude, you have a guy literally begging you to come back to him." Liza said, looking serious.

"And that would be considered psycho soap opera fanatic… this is nothing." I lied.

"Obviously it isn't Pay, and since when do you hate being called Pay? Obviously Troy knows more about you than I do." Liza said.

"Since when did you start calling him Troy?" I asked, grabbing a muffin. I cautiously tasted a little bit of it. They actually turned out good. Why did he have to be so damn cute about everything?

"The stalker formerly known as freaky comatose dude just doesn't have the same ring to it." Liza said sarcastically. "Besides, I want to get used to the name since its sort of obvious that he's already found a way to creep into the matrix that is Sharpay Evan's love life, and it doesn't look like he'll be leaving it any time soon."

I decided against pointing out that that barely made any sense what so ever, so instead I defended myself. "If it wasn't for the addictive power of muffins I'd be over him by now."

"I admit that the muffins are addictive, but I still think that you have a major thing for this dude." Liza said, popping the last of her muffin into her mouth.

"How many love letters and muffin baskets have I gotten before?" I asked.

Liza shrugged. "Probably about… enough to live off of, but that's not the point. You never give any of those the time of day. This one is way different."

"Why? Because someone I used to know sent it to me?" I asked.

"No because the person who sent them to you is madly in love with you." Liza said, picking up another muffin.

"You don't get it Liza, this person can't be here right now." I said, slightly freaking out.

"What do you mean?" Liza asked.

I sighed. "Look, when Troy went into a coma I totally freaked out on everyone, my brother, all of my friends, even all of his friends. I came here because I figured that since everything I had going for me back in LA was basically deteriorating, I decided to move here and assume the worst when it came to Troy."

"Sharpay, please explain, because I'm totally lost here." Liza said, biting her (third) muffin.

I shrugged. "I made myself think that there was no way he was going to wake up… it was like he was already dead to me."

Liza paused, for a second I thought she blanked out, but I was wrong, she had something to say. "Sharpay! I know that you're the world's most stubborn pessimist but are you really that stupid!? I mean, big whoop, you thought he was dead, he's here now isn't he? Do you know what some people would do to get the love of their live back? He's practically being handed to you on a silver platter! Just get over yourself and go for it already!"

"Okay, first of all, silver platter? I wasn't handed anything. And second of all I'm sorry I spent my childhood learning how to skateboard instead of watching the soap channel all day, but I'm just not following your logic." I said defensively.

Liza swallowed her last bite and went on. "Oh come on Shar! Look… I didn't have enough money to get into college and my parents couldn't afford to let me stay home so I had to move here to live with my aunt. At first it was bad but I got jobs and we made it through, then I got a job on Broadway and it all got better." She sighed, calming down a little. "The point is that I know a good opportunity when I see one… and this is it."

"This is what?" I asked.

"Don't play dumb, you know what I mean. I mean, did you love the guy?" She asked, crossing her arms.

I paused, trying to work out an answer that wouldn't give Liza any more of an advantage. "Yes but-"

"And do you still love him?" She asked quickly.

I frowned at her. She wasn't going to make this easy. "I… don't know, I haven't seen him for two months!"

"Well if you aren't sure then why take chances on it? I get that it's awkward but at least he's trying to get back into your life, he obviously is still in love with you, and it's not just some high school crush, it was a serious relationship… why throw all of that away?"

"I never told you about our relationship." I snapped.

Liza rolled her eyes "Oh come on, you were in LA for what? A week? There is no way that a week long relationship would provoke someone to fly across the country. And by the way I'm going to be demanding some juicy details about you two back when you lived in… Albaburkley, was it?"

"It's Albuquerque. And you will get your details after I go reconcile with freaky coma dude." I said half deciding out of .

Liza smiled. "Let the reconciliation begin." She said. "Want to chill after that? your apartment? I'll spring for the movies and cookie dough. We are in desperate need of a major spill session"

"Why not." I shrugged.

"Okay then, see you there." I said, grabbing what was left of the muffin basket and heading for the exit.

**Okay, so I am trying to multitask writing this and my other short story As She falls to the Ground , I'm farther along with the next chapet for this though, I'll post it ASAP  
**


	16. I didn't think

I pushed open the door to Starbucks and inhaled the sweet smell of freshly brewed coffee. I sat down at the table until I saw who I was looking for at the counter.

"Can't you put in on my tab or something?" Troy asked.

"You don't have a tab, so you either pay or leave." The cash register person said.

"I swear, as soon as I find an ATM around here I'll give you the money, in fact I'll pay you personally." Troy begged.

"No money no coffee, besides, if you don't mind me saying sir, you've already had four grande coffees in the past two hours, shouldn't you call it a day?" She asked.

Troy looked ticked… really ticked. "Look lady, I came here all the way from California to visit my perfect Broadway star girlfriend who actually turned out to be my perfect Broadway star ex-girlfriend, but I didn't get that memo because I was in a coma and no one even bothered to give me any awareness what so ever that she even came to New York in the first place and now I find out that as soon as I went into a coma she considered us broken up, so now in three days I have to go back to California and tell my friends, and her friends, and heck, even my parents that she is completely over me and has no intensions of even saying hi to me if she sees me walking down the street and made a fool of myself with a stupid card an stupid muffin basket and my hotel messed up so I have nowhere to go until midnight which is in forty five minutes and now I can't even get a cup of damn coffee!"

"Um sir, either give me some money for the coffee or I'll have to ask you to leave." The lady said.

I smiled and rolled my eyes. "Chill Margo, this one's on me." I said, placing a five dollar bill on the counter.

"Hello Ms. Evans, did you like the complementary gift basket we sent you?" She asked.

"So much that I had to come down here and personally thank you guys, now if you don't mind, I think the man wanted some coffee" I said.

"Of course Ms. Evans, I'll make it myself, and would you like anything?" She asked.

"No thanks, nothing for today Margo." I said, flashing my celebrity smile.

"Oh come on, your usual, on the house, I insist." Margo said happily.

"Well… okay. Thanks so much Margo."

"No problem Ms. Evans." She said then rushed off.

"Oh, so she gets free coffee?" Troy called.

Margo ignored him. I giggled. "You haven't been here long enough to learn how to talk to people, it was a good first try though."

"Exactly how long were you there?" He asked, not acknowledging my small talk.

"I heard the monolog. And by the way the muffin basket was sweet, not stupid, and the muffins were addictive." I said, handing Troy his coffee. We moved to a table and sat down

Troy smiled, knowing that at least he didn't make a complete idiot out of himself. "Thanks, I had Zeke virtually coach me through it, and now I'm pretty much sure that he's glad that he moved to Europe for chef school."

"So Zeke managed to teach you how to bake?" I asked.

"Trust me, it was a one time thing, and Zeke is about ready to bite my head off." Troy laughed. "So how did you find me anyways?"

I smiled. "Just because I've been in New York for two months doesn't mean I forgot our coffee schedule, when something is bothering you get a major craving for black coffee around eleven at night. I'm not as heartless as you think."

"I figured once you saved me from Margo or whatever." He smiled.

"Margo is a little high strung, she's just super serious about her job." I said. There was a pause. "Look Troy, about what you said-"

"Look, I was freaking out and confused and in desperate need of coffee, I didn't mean any of what I said." Troy said quietly.

"You think I just ditched you as soon as you went into a coma?" I asked.

Troy paused and leaned in to whisper to me. "Two weeks ago I woke up and in like, ten minutes Chad was there, I asked him what happened, he said we were in a car accident and that I was asleep for almost two months, and then I asked where you were… Chad started crying. He said you were in New York, living your dreams. He showed me all your emails, the video you took on opening night, told me the web address for your blog… and nowhere in any of that did you say anything about me. It was like you forgot about me Shar. And now you're here living this dream life and worrying that I'm going to mess it up."

"I never thought that you would mess up my dream life." I said quickly, putting my hand over his.

Troy shook his head. "Don't give me that, I came here and you didn't even tell your best friend about me, I felt like I was some dark, embarrassing secret, or some high school fling that wasn't significant. Sharpay, I love you. And no matter how long I was in a coma that didn't change, do you have any idea how damn horrible it felt to have all the way here to see you again just to be treated like some thing of the past?"

"Troy… I never meant for you to feel that way." I said quietly. There was a long silence. "Look, I don't want to start all over again, I still… have feelings for you. I just… need to get used to you being here." I said slowly.

"Wait, what did you just say?" He asked.

"I need to get used to you being here?" I said with a raised eyebrow, hoping that was what he meant.

"No, before that." He said.

"I still have feelings for you?" I said blushing… Looking back I might not have wanted to say that.

"Listen, I know this must be really weird for you… but how about we take a walk or something, let's just talk for awhile." Troy said.

I smiled. "Sure, we can walk to my apartment." I said, grabbing my bag. I was strangely excited, like I was on my way to a first date or something. Like I was anxious, and yet happy and confused, all at the same time. I was just hoping that things would work out.

"So… Pay… how are things?" He asked as we stepped outside of Starbucks.

"Good, I'm doing Julliard part time, I have my own apartment, I have the best job ever…" I trailed off, knowing that this wasn't exactly the best thing to say at this point. "Enough about me, I know I must be missing some crazy stuff back in California."

"Unless you mean your boyfriend, nothing that much. Kelsi and Ryan went on their first date last Friday, Chad is thinking of auditioning for So You Think You Can Dance, and Taylor is 'refraining from romantic action' until he gives it up.

"No way, so no more makeout-sprees in the middle of horror movie night?" I asked.

"Actually we kind of quit horror movie night since you left, but seriously, Chad is like a zombie without Taylor twisting one of his hairs around her finger every five seconds, his teachers suggested antidepressants." Troy said with a laugh.

"I just can't imagine life without Chad and Taylor's PDA palooza everyday." I said, crossing my arms in the cold.

"Well you managed two month without any of us… is that really the only thing you missed?" He asked. We both stopped walking, and I'm pretty sure I stopped breathing. "Look, I'm sorry, I really didn't mean that."

"No, its okay, I get it. I was scared and I ran. It was a stupid thing to do… but I like it here. It's not like back there, this is like a drama free environment, you know?" I said.

Troy nodded. "I understand." He paused, sounding… disappointed? Almost like I just said something that broke his heart. "So you'll never guess whose switching majors." Troy said, changing the subject smoothly.

"Tell me, I'm dying." I said, trying to go along with the whole 'that never happened' thing.

Troy seemed believe it (the perks of being a professional actress) so he went on. "Gabriella, her major which is some fancy type of science was giving her panic attacks. So she switched to teaching."

I raised an eyebrow. "Gabriella is going to be a teacher? Isn't she just a little bit…"

"Naïve? Trusting? Oblivious? Prone to tears? Our concerns exactly. And not just that, high school math." Troy said sounding worried.

I had to stop myself from laughing. "They are going to eat her alive." I laughed, unable to control it.

"We know she means well… but she is going to get all her hopes up just to be trampled by a bunch of eleventh graders." He said, we both laughed as we got to the doorstep.

I smiled, looking up, for the first time just looking at him without freaking out. It was nice, just looking at him… then I found myself leaning in… and then I was kissing him. After only five seconds of pure happy time Troy pulled away. "Look, I'm sorry, I know you said-"

"Don't… I missed you Troy." I said simply. I pulled him back into another strong kiss, and this time neither one of us stopped. For the first time today, I didn't think. And I loved it.

"Whoa! Pay, I know I'm a little late but you didn't have to go and make other plans without me." I heard.

I pulled away and turned around. And there was Liza, carrying a hug box of cookie dough and a bunch of DVDs. "Um… Liza, you remember Troy… right?" I asked.

"Not as much as you do apparently." Liza said with a laugh. I gave her a not helping look. "Okay fine Pay, I'll meet you upstairs, but if the neighbors start complaining again I'm knocking the door down." She said, before going inside.

"I think I'd better go before Liza gets me thrown out." I said with an uncomfortable half smile.

"Yeah. I had fun, maybe we can hang out again soon." He said.

"Call any time, you have my cell phone number, right?" I asked.

"I could never forget it." He said with a smile.

"Okay… bye." I said before placing another kiss on Troy's cheek. I opened the door and went inside, barely making it up the stairs.

**Yay, kiss. I feel so warm and fuzzy inside. I've been thinking about answering reviews lately, because all you guys are awesome, so if I can find the time I might. Anyways, thanks to al you guys who reviewed. I've got to go now, so happy reading!**


	17. Remember Me?

I walked into my apartment. Liza was sitting on the couch with a bowl of cookie dough in her hands. "If I was your mom you would so be grounded until the end of the century."

"If you were my mom you would be thirty two in jail with a messed up nose job and flirting with the security guard." I said, putting my bag down on the table.

"Ouch… I take that last part back but still, we have some major details to cover here." Liza said, getting up to refill her bowl of cookie dough.

"First let's cover about how you totally ruined a moment out front." I said before stealing Liza's bowl of cookie dough.

"Okay, I deserved that, but I sprung for Silent Hill and both the Grudge movies, and I am not watching them alone. And something told me that if I let that kiss go on I'd be forced to." Liza said, getting another bowl.

"You would have survived, now I won't be able to even think about people getting stabbed in the horror movies because my mind is stuck in makeout mode." I said, walking over to my couch.

"Just because some blast from the past boyfriend got you all horny does not mean that my movie night is ruined." Liza said, taking a seat next to me.

"You suck, and next time you're watching your movies alone." I threatened.

"Yeah, whatever, which one do you want to watch first?" Liza asked, ignoring my threat.

"Silent Hill." I answered. I curled up on my couch and settled in to watch the movie. We were only about half way there when I heard a knock on the door.

"Who ordered pizza?" Liza asked. "I could really go for some Hawaiian pineapple on mine, ever since I was a kid I was obsessed with pineapple pizza."

"How do I not find that hard to believe?" I asked sarcastically. Liza threw a pillow at me pathetically. "Nice try, and for your information, I didn't order pizza either. And just so you know, even if I did it wouldn't be pineapple"

"Pineapple hater." Liza muttered.

I rolled my eyes and got up from the couch. I opened the door and was pretty surprised at who I saw. "Troy?" I asked.

"Yeah, hi… my hotel plans sort of caved… you mind if I crash here?" He asked, with that lost puppy look.

"Um…sure. Liza is over, we're watching horror movies." I said opening the door wider. "Liza, Troy is crashing here, make some room." I said, praying that Liza wouldn't make a comment.

"Oh, you mean blast from the past makeout dude? Yeah, I figured he'd come over some time tonight, but not to watch horror movies." Liza said, winking over at us.

"Shut up Liza." I said.

"Oh you know you would have said the same thing if it was me." She said with a laugh.

I took this into consideration. "True… very true. You can come in now." I nodded over to Troy and sat down on the couch next to Liza.

Troy sat down next to me. "Hi, I'm Troy." Troy said over to Liza.

"I'm Liza." She said. "Nice to meet you." She said, sticking her hand out on front of my face.

"Likewise, I'm sure." Troy said, taking her hand and shaking it.

"Um, can you guys please move your hands? You're blocking my view." I said.

"I wish I could say that Sharpay told me a lot about you… but she really didn't." Liza said, completely ignoring me.

"Oh that's pretty much okay, as long as you stop referring to me a blast from the past makeout dude." Troy said a smile, still not moving his hand.

"Hey, blast from the past makeout dude is better than freaky coma dude." Liza said.

Troy looked confused. "Who called me that?"

"Will you two please? We're almost at the par where the police lady gets burned alive." I asked, pushing their hands away from on front of my face.

"Did she always have this kind of sick enjoyment in watching other people suffer?" Liza asked.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was because it took her mind off of her own life." Troy nodded.

"Hmm…. very interesting concept, but I'm pretty sure she just likes dead things." Liza said.

"Great, now I missed Alessa wiping out the religious cult." I said.

"So this is her version of a chick flick."

"Yeah… pretty much."

"Back in the fifth she was the first person the successfully perform a séance."

"Yeah… she told me about that, she said the kid that she was doing the séance with her got so scared that he hid in her closet."

"Um… I'm pretty sure that kid was me."

"Ouch… sorry about that."

"its okay, Sharpay bugged me about that until like… well actually she never stopped."

"Okay, I hope you two are having fun with your little girl talk or whatever, but I think I'm going to get to bed, I have nine in the morning contemporary dance class that I can't afford to miss, that and I have to make it to the matinee show rehearsal." I said.

"You go do that, I think I'll just sit here and dig up all your deep dark secrets from your boyfriend here… or is he your ex boyfriend? Or just your friend? What is he anyways?" Liza asked. Could she think of a more awkward question? No, I don't think so.

Troy looked at me too, I was pretty much hoping for a miracle at this point. "Um… he's my-" I was interrupted by the Snakes on a Plane theme song. I walked over to the counter where my purse was and took out my cell phone. "Hello?" I spoke into the phone.

"Sharpay? Is that you? Whoa! I haven't heard from you in so long." A peppy voice said.

There was only one person I knew who was that enthusiastic. "Gabriella? Is that you?" I asked.

"Yeah! I'm in New York! We're all here! There was a long weekend so we all decided to come visit you! In fact we're almost at your apartment right now! I think this is it, well, I've got to go, Bye!" She rambled. I heard the dial tone and hung up myself.

I put the phone down. "Okay, whose idea was it to give Gabriella coffee?" I asked.

"She's here?" Troy asked, getting up.

"Yes, everyone is, I think I can kiss this whole concept of sleep goodbye." I said.

"Chill, it's just dancing, which I very so happen to do for a living thank you very much, it's no big." Liza said, still watching the movie.

"That's theatrical dancing this is contemporary, most of its choreography can easily be mistaken for suicide attempts, especially the choreography my teacher assigns little old me." I said before hearing a knock on the door. I opened it and the firstface I saw was Chad's.

"Well, well, well… look who's living the lives of the rich and famous." Chad said, letting himself in.

"I've got the whole famous part down, the rich thing is what I'm working on." I said.

Next was Taylor. "Sharpay! I haven't seen you in so long." She said, pulling me into a quick forced hug. "And look at this place! It's huge!" She said.

"Yeah… my dad still feels like he owes me something." I said, rubbing my shoulder from when she clawed me.

"Sharpay!" Kelsi said, running through the door with Ryan. They were wearing matching 'I heart Ryan/Kelsi' (you guessed it) hats.

"Wow, aren't we feeling… festive?" I said with a smile as they pulled me into a group hug. I'm not quite sure if festive was the right word, but it was the first thing I could think of.

Ryan pulled away. "Hey little sis, you have this place definitely has my approval… hey, is that a flat screen?"

"First of all, if I remember correctly, that's big sis to you, and second of all, yes. It was a gift from Bob, the director."

"Now I remember why I took dance classes instead of trading baseball cards with all the other kids when I was five." Ryan said.

I rolled my eyes. "Gabriella? Is that you?" I called.

Sure, enough, Gabriella walked through the door. "Hey Shar! I love your place." She said (still all hyped on coffee).

"I seem to be getting that a lot these days." I said. "Come on and join the party." I said, wit what meant to be sarcasm, but Gabriella took it pretty literally.

"Hey, you didn't forget about me, now did you?" I heard a voice from the door way.

"Travis? You're here too?" I asked, running up to him and giving him a hug (not that way, we were like, best friends).

"For your information, it was my idea o fly out here." He said.

"Oh, so that means if I fail I'm allowed to blame you, right?" I asked jokingly.

"Yeah, pretty much." He said.

"Funny, when I got here no one gave me a hug." Troy said.

I smiled. "That's because you're a boyfriend, Travis here is one of my bestest girlfriends."

"I feel so special." Travis said.

"You should." I joked.

"Hello? Did everyone forget about me?" A girl called from the door way.

I frowned. "Um, if you don't mind me asking, who the hell are you?"

"You mean Troy didn't tell you? Well while you were out being little Miss Broadway, I was out helping your boyfriend cope. I'm his new girlfriend, Casey."

I didn't quite know what to say. I turned to Troy, and to my horror, he was just as silent as I was.

**Okay, this very well may be the last time I update in a week, because I'll be to busy meeting a bunch of cheek pinching relatives. I think there might be internet access at the hotel, so if I'm lucky I might be able to update. I'll be taking a long road trip so I'll probably get a lot of writing done. So I hope you guys are having a better time tan me**


	18. New Girl

"What? Troy didn't tell you about me?" Casey asked, hanging all over Troy.

"Um… listen Casey, this is Sharpay, and Sharpay… this is Casey." Troy said, the entire apartment was in silence. "Listen Casey, maybe I should talk to Sharpay for a minute."

"Yeah… that might be a good idea." I said.

"Shut up Blondie." Casey said. "Now Troy, there is no need to make it any clearer to little miss sunshine over here what's going on, you to used to be a thing, and now you aren't, she'll live." Casey said.

"Casey, stop embarrassing yourself, I have to talk to Sharpay." Troy said, pushing her hand off his shoulder.

"If I remember correctly, didn't you almost kill yourself last time you wanted to talk to her, maybe it was a sign." Casey said. "Now come on Troy, we're wasting premium party time."

"Will you just shut up for like, two seconds? I have to talk to Sharpay so just step off, okay?" He asked, literally pulling me out of the room into my bathroom.

I locked the door and crossed my arms. "Now would be a good time to start talking."

"I know, look, there are some things that I really should have told you." He said, taking a deep breath, he put his hands in his pockets and started pacing. "Remember back in the seventh grade I started going to basketball camp every summer?" He asked.

"Yeah… but what does that have to do with anything?" I asked.

"Well Casey was going to the cheerleading camp that was only like two miles away, so we would always have these dances and stuff wit them, Casey and I were sort of a thing. It turns out that she lives in LA, we sort of spent a day together before I left… it was no big deal." He said.

"And you never told me that you were dating her for four years? Was she seriously that important to you?" I asked.

Troy laughed. "No… actually it was pretty much strictly physical."

"Funny, I was your best friend and you never really struck me as a very physical seventh grader." I snapped.

"I wasn't… we just never really connected you know?" He continued.

"Please, I'm already trying to stop the mental images." I said.

"There are seriously no mental images to try to stop, it was no big deal." He said.

"Not to you maybe, I can't believe you kept this from me… kept her from me. You had a girlfriend for four years and you never told me?" I asked.

"Only for the summers… it wasn't that big of a deal." Troy said with a dramatic gesture. "And you're really one to talk Sharpay, back then you were the most notorious boy hopper I've ever met! Do you know how many times I had to erase your name and number off the boys' bathroom wall?"

"What if I wanted my number on the boys' bathroom wall?" I asked. Troy gave me a puzzled look. "It was a dare, okay?"

Troy gave me a look like I was crazy. "Whatever it was it was worse than me not telling you about Casey!"

I rolled my eyes at him. "No way, I may have been a boy hopper, but at least I was up front about it, I told out everything that went down between me and those guys."

"Yeah, and I'm still trying to get rid of the mental images." Troy said.

"At least I didn't sleep with every boyfriend I've ever had!" I yelled.

"Good, because if you did you would have contracted some sort of disease by now!" Troy yelled back. "And I never said that I had sex with Casey."

"Well did you?" I asked, crossing my arms. Silence… no matter what the question is, silence is the worst possible answer that a guy could give you. "You did… didn't you?"

I looked up at Troy, his face was pale and he looked like he was about to puke. "Sharpay, it wasn't like that-"

"Then exactly what was it like?" I asked. Another silence… a part of me felt like I wanted to cry… that part was quickly frozen out by my inner ice queen. "After all of this… I can't believe I trusted you." I said, opening the bathroom door. Both Liza and Travis fell into the bathroom as son as I did.

They both scrambled up. "We weren't listening in-"

"It was all her idea!"

"Not helping." Liza said, elbowing Travis in the chest.

"Whatever! Come on you guys, we're leaving." I said, walking out of the room. "Are you guys coming?" I asked.

"Yeah, come on, let's go." Liza said, pulling Travis along by his hand.

We walked down the stars and out of the apartment. "I need coffee." I muttered.

"Not a bad idea, coffee always eases the trauma." Liza said sarcastically.

"Shut up or I'll make you pay for your own coffee." I said.

"Will you stop mocking my perpetually broke state?" Liza complained.

"I hear that, please tell me this one is on you?" Travis asked.

"How did I not notice how much alike you two are?" **(A/N** **Has anyone besides me thought about how perfect a couple Travis and Liza would be?) **I asked, sounding kind of ticked… you would too if you had my day.

"Trust me darling, he isn't half as sexy as me." Liza joked as we entered Starbucks.

"Hey, just because you look more like Justin Timberlake than I do doesn't mean that you're bringing sexy back (**A/N I think I need at least one reference to that song in every one of my stories)**." Travis said, doing the 'oh no you didn't' snapping thing.

"Okay you guys, I'd seriously hate to ruin this buddy-buddy moment, but can we please focus here?" I asked.

"Sorry." They both said at the same time.

"It's okay… so what happened to Casey?" I asked.

"Oh, you mean Slutty McCrack-whore? We kicked her out."Travis said.

"I was going to go as far as ripping out her hair extensions, but that Gabriella girl stopped me." Liza said.

"She wears heir extensions?" I asked.

"Duh, you didn't think that dark chocolate brown hair color was real, did you?" Travis asked. I raised an eyebrow at him. "I had three older sisters, okay?"

"Whatever… let's get back to the point, do you want me to skip right to the all boys are scum speech or should we start out by giving you a moment to scope out your feelings?" Liza asked.

"I'm going to need some scoping time." I said.

Travis nodded. "Okay… we pretty much heard the whole argument-"

"Not that we were spying." Liza added quickly.

"Yeah… what she said." Travis said, waving it off. "Anyways, Casey was bitching about how her and Troy spent all these romantic nights together, and all."

"Not helping." I said quickly.

"Okay, but all I'm saying is that she sounds like a delusional, desperate for attention, tramp." Travis said with a shrug.

"I figured… but that still doesn't excuse the fact that he was screwing some cheerleader every summer since possibly the seventh grade." I said.

Liza laughed. "Shar… no girl loses her virginity in the seventh grade."

"Not really… one of my sister's friends lost hers in the sixth grade." Travis said. (**A/N don't think that it's unrealistic, one of my best friends –who is… for the record… not a slut- had sex in the sixth grade… I wasn't exactly all for it, but I didn't really have a say, I was forced to show her some very informative issues of seventeen magazine, I think I scared her with the statistics… why am I saying this on the internet again? Okay… back t the story ) **

"You really aren't helping Travis." Liza said. "How about you go get the coffee? Unless you say something dumb to Margo, in which case Sharpay will have to go and use the whole star on Broadway angle."

"Please no, I have a feeling that if I go out there I will experience I somewhat Troy like meltdown." I said.

"Chill… it's been almost three years since I got kicked out of a coffee shop for asking one of the employees if they would stop having phone sex with their boyfriend long enough to realize that they were putting salt in my coffee." Travis said.

"What did I tell you Sharpay? We have nothing to worry about at all." Liza said sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes. "At least I don't have to worry about Travis 'borrowing' my credit card to buy a pair of six hundred dollar Dolce and Gobbona sun glasses… I don't have to worry about that… do I Travis?"

"I don't know Shar… I am a sucker for Dolce and Gobbona." Travis said. Admittedly, I was slightly shocked about that last comment, I mean after all, I hadn't seen him in two months… and believe me, a lot can happen in two months. Travis just rolled his eyes. "I was kidding, now stop looking at me like I'm going to try to steal your boyfriend next."

"Oh… okay." I said, handing him my wallet.

"Thanks…" He said.

I nodded. I turned to Liza. "Have you ever felt like repeatedly banging your head against a wall?" I asked.

"Many, many times. I just can't believe that all of this happened in one day, I mean first this totally mysterious seemingly nonexistent boyfriend from the past shows up and then you totally blow him off but like, a half an hour later you two are making out on front of your building, then Slutty McCrack-whore shows up and separates you two star crossed lovers once again… and even though this is a nice way to switch things up from our usual boring schedule, I still have a major head ache."

"Oh please, try being me. I swear, if it wasn't for the fact that I live within walking distance from Starbucks I'd be dead by now." I said.

"Okay, I got you both cappuccinos… and I bought scones." Travis said, putting the cups and the plates on the table.

"See? I'm not the only one who springs for scones on a regular basis." Liza said.

"So… what did I miss?" Travis asked.

"Nothing but a Slutty McCrack-whore reference and two girls talking about banging head against a wall." I said, taking a sip of my cappuccino, it was nice and warm, usually I like my coffee I frappe form… but hot coffee was so soothing.

"Speaking of Slutty herself… she just entered the premises." Liza said.

"And she is coming towards you." Travis said.

"And I should care because?" I asked.

"Because it's like watching Jaws… only I think that Slutty McCrack-whore is just a little bit more pissed." Liza warned me.

"I'm not worried, she's just some crazy, dramatic, boyfriend stealing, cheerleader." I said… shortly before I felt the cold blast of an orange cream frappuccino being poured over my head.

**Ooh… oh no she didn't. So I really can't believe that out of all the people who reviewed, everyone thought that Troy was really seeing someone else, rather than Slutty McCrack-whore (I just LOVE saying that) just being delusional. Anyways, I hope I updated soon enough, I'm still stuck at my house… only I'm basically cut of from all technology. Well… at least I can update. **


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